North American ports

Drayage drivers at Shippers Transport Express, a subsidiary of SSA Marine, on Friday chose to make Teamsters Local 848 in Southern California their exclusive bargaining representative, making Shippers Transport the second trucking company at Los Angeles-Long Beach after Toll to be represented by the trucker union.

Container volume through the top U.S. port gateways is expected to continue rising through the first half of 2015 after traffic rose 6 percent year-over-year in 2014 despite U.S. West Coast port congestion, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report.

The Port of Virginia handled a record 2.39 million twenty-foot-units of containers in 2014 while returning to profitable operation and working to bring congestion and delays under control.

A New Jersey appellate court has upheld the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor’s right to revoke the license of a port hiring agent for associating with organized-crime members.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said the Southern California ports continue to work toward a Feb. 1 roll-out date for a neutral, or gray chassis concept in the busiest U.S. port complex, despite the protracted contract negotiations between the longshore union and waterfront employers.

Cargo diversion from U.S. West Coast ports due to congestion and alleged work slowdowns by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union took a toll last year.

The Port of Virginia will delay the launch of a truck appointment system at Norfolk International Terminals until this spring.

Several container terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey are extending hours for gate cut-offs this week to keep pace with heavy post-holiday demand for import deliveries.

The Port of Oakland and its terminal operators are chipping away at their cargo backlog by running Saturday and Sunday gates, and the weekend gate program could remain in effect for another month.

U.S. economic growth and disruptions on the West Coast are combining to make 2015 a promising year for U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports.

The Harbor Trucking Association of Southern California called upon all supply chain participants to work together to make the newly-opened depot for empty equipment a success, or it will not fulfill its purpose of relieving congestion at marine terminals.

The Port of Long Beach on Monday opened a depot where empty containers can be temporarily stored. The depot will ease space constraints at congested marine terminals while also freeing up chassis for use in the harbor area.

The gloves have come off. If there is one issue that the Pacific Maritime Association know will undercut any possible sympathy the International Longshore and Warehouse Union would hope to have from the public, it is how much they make.

Vessels on Monday continued to back up at anchor at the Port of Oakland and truck turn times were three hours or longer now that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has chosen the Northern California port as its latest target for work slowdowns on the West Coast.

Most terminals at the Port of New York-New Jersey will not extend gate hours in anticipation of cargo backlogs from the New Year holiday, the port authority announced today.

The berthing delays that have seen ships back up at anchorage off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for the past several weeks are now spreading up the coast to Oakland, in a spillover effect from the Southern California congestion.

Signaling that resolution of congestion issues in Southern California is still a ways away, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are taking the additional step of asking the federal government for permission to work together to resolve the worst congestion seen in years at the largest U.S. port complex.

The Port of Long Beach on Monday will open a temporary 30-acre site for empty containers in an attempt to free up chassis and ease congestion that has frustrated shippers for months.

Confirming that eight months into negotiations progress has come to a standstill in West Coast longshore talks, employers on Monday requested federal mediators to enter the negotiations.

An inland port launched by the South Carolina Ports Authority roughly a year ago has exceeded its expectations, reflecting shippers’ interest in reducing trucking costs and securing capacity via intermodal rail.

The Port of Oakland will open a gate on Sunday and begin sending operational status updates to harbor truckers in order to reduce truck congestion.

As labor negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union heated up this week, JOC readers clamored for information on the topic.

Strong monthly volume growth at the Port of Tacoma came to an abrupt halt in November, when the port, plagued by labor productivity issues, saw international container volumes plummet 14.1 percent year-over-year, new port statistics show.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has rejected Maher Terminals’ claim that Port Authority of New York and New Jersey acted illegally in granting a more favorable lease to adjacent APM Terminals.

Holiday shoppers in Asia will have to deal with a little less Christmas cheer this year, as trans-Pacific shipments of Christmas trees from the U.S. Pacific Northwest are the latest casualty of West Coast port congestion.

FedEx was forced to turn away freight because of slowdowns at West Coast ports, a reminder of how port congestion is hurting the bottom lines of not just shippers but also the inland transportation providers they depend on.

Terminal congestion and alleged job actions by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union pulled down Los Angeles-Long Beach container volume by 1 percent on a year-over-year basis in November, according to statistics released by the ports.

Container volume through the Port of Charleston last month rose 8 percent from November 2013 as the South Carolina Port Authority recorded across-the-board increases in cargo volume.

Container volume handled by the Alabama State Port Authority rose 10 percent year-over-year in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, helping the authority post record revenue for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

Container terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey will close on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but will be open for regular hours on Friday, Dec. 26.

A surge in import traffic has led the Port of Houston Authority to extend its container terminal operating hours.

Sixty-six percent of U.S. shippers surveyed by JOC.com say they plan to ship less cargo through the U.S. West Coast next year because of ongoing congestion and delays, suggesting that ports from Long Beach to Seattle could lose market share just as they did after a 10-day work stoppage in 2002.

This week's International Longshore and Warehouse Union caucus in San Francisco may or may not be the end to seven months of contract negotiation that has engulfed the West Coast in disruption and uncertainty.

New data from a laboratory study shows Port of Oakland is nearing its goal of reducing emissions at the port by 85 percent by 2020.

The International Longshoremen’s Association agreed to unload military cargo from a ship returning to Beaumont, Texas, from Ebola-stricken Liberia after federal officials certified that the vessel posed no health risk.

For the sixth week in a row, JOC.com’s top stories center around continuing congestion at U.S. West Coast ports. But while eight of the top 10 stories centered on labor strife and delays, two other stories garnered attention: the massive, $1.1 trillion cromnibus spending bill in the U.S., and the factory shift from China to Vietnam.

Throughput at Port Everglades jumped 12.5 percent in October, newly released port statistics show.

The ongoing congestion plaguing U.S. West Coast ports is forcing shippers to re-examine their supply chains with an eye to building in more safeguards against shortfalls in product imports.

A massive federal spending bill is poised to get U.S. port funding closer to a set schedule over the next decade but will still come short of the target.