North American ports

Even though it now looks like it will be sometime in August before a new agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers is in place, no one is panicking and tensions appear low. Why?

Drayage drivers serving New York-New Jersey port terminals said at a weekend forum that they need quick action to reduce turn times that require them to sit in long queues for several hours a day without full compensation.

Container volume at the Port of Philadelphia jumped 29 percent during the first half of the year, aided by two new services and a continuing shift of breakbulk to containers for shipments of imported fruit.

The board of directors of the American Association of Port Authorities has elected Kristen Decas, CEO and port director of the Port of Hueneme, California, as its incoming chair...

A surge of imports through Los Angeles-Long Beach in June caught transportation providers by surprise, and helps explain why the ports had problems with terminal congestion and capacity shortages in both the rail and drayage trucking sectors.

Port Everglades’ new intermodal transfer facility is up and running, and officials are hoping it will keep the Florida port competitive with other destinations in the Southeast.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a fiscal year 2014-15 budget that calls for $579 million in capital expenditures, including replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge and redevelopment of the Middle Harbor container terminal.

Leaders of an industry group that proposed far-reaching changes to operations of the Port of New York and New Jersey are starting the more difficult task of deciding how to turn those recommendations into reality.

South Jersey will get its first new marine terminal on the Delaware River in more than 30 years as a result of a partnership between Holt Logistics and the South Jersey Port Corp.

A new five-year deal will keep Chiquita in Delaware until 2019.

Jon Slangerup, the new executive director at the Port of Long Beach, sees his greatest strength as being more of a builder of added value, as he was at FedEx Canada, than as a turnaround artist. That is why he is so excited about his position at the port, where he intends to continue the capital expansion projects, assess where additional expansion is required, but all the while adding value for port customers.

Events this past week demonstrate that the Teamsters union remains dead serious about organizing harbor truck drivers, but also highlight the uphill battle the union faces.

Container volume through the Port of Virginia rose 6.5 percent as the port handled more than 2.3 million 20-foot-equivalent units, a new record, during its just-ended fiscal year.

The Alabama State Port Authority, which had proposed widening a five-mile segment of its ship channel at Mobile, has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to expand its environmental study to cover possible deepening and widening of the entire 36-mile channel.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex is struggling with marine terminal congestion and long trucker turn-times caused by a number of factors including chassis shortages, delays on the intermodal rail network, poor communication between terminals and truckers and a surge in cargo volume that caught the entire supply chain by surprise.

Ship pilots at the Port of Savannah, who said earlier this week that vessels wider than 142 feet must transit the Savannah River during flood tide, now say the ships may move at other times if they are assisted by two tractor tugs.

The Teamsters union today promised to turn up the heat on trucking companies and marine terminals in Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor, although their efforts did not affect cargo-handling and gate operations in the nation’s largest port complex.

Two organizations representing New York-New Jersey port drayage companies are complaining that truckers’ concerns got short shrift in an industry-side task force’s recommendations of ways to make the port run more smoothly.

With West Coast longshore contract negotiations still underway, U.S. retailers expect to bring in record levels of merchandise this month to protect against supply chain disruptions, pushing up container import projections for the first half of the year.

The Port of Savannah expects to handle more refrigerated shipments of fruit from South America this year, thanks to its new pilot program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

West Coast ports can breathe a sigh of relief after the rejection of the P3 Network by China’s Ministry of Commerce — a single operational entity won’t have the huge leverage they feared in negotiations over port calls and terminal charges.

Cargo-handling and gate operations at marine terminals in Los Angeles-Long Beach continued without interruption today despite threats by the Teamsters union to initiate an “indefinite strike” against three trucking companies that serve the United States’ largest port complex.

The widening of the Panama Canal could eventually lead to a 90 percent increase in cotton exports for U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, and a 66 percent reduction in cotton exports through West Coast ports.

Container volumes moving through West Coast ports in May were 4 percent higher than during the same month last year, lending support to the theory that higher-than usual cargo volumes are contributing to port congestion.

Longshoremen are “hard-timing” the TraPac terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, in other words working much slower than normal.

A tropical storm moving up the U.S. East Coast threatens to complicate cargo movement by disrupting vessel schedules at ports already facing a July 4 holiday interruption.

Beneficial cargo owners and harbor trucking companies that consistently experience long turn times at container terminals may want to fire their ocean carriers.

With China’s rejection of the P3 Network in mid-June, West Coast ports no longer have to fear that a single operational entity will gain huge leverage in negotiations over port calls and terminal charges.

Container volume through the Port of New York and New Jersey rose 3.7 percent year-over-year in May, as increases in import loads and empty export boxes offset a decline in export loads.

Criticism of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by an official of the International Association of Machinists provoked an angry response at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition conference in San Francisco at the weekend.

Chiquita will remain a port tenant at Gulfport, Mississippi, for six more months before moving to New Orleans.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has at last found its choice to head the port.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued guidelines for ship and cargo contingency plans ahead of a possible West Coast trade disruption arising from the expiration of the longshore labor union contract.

The North Carolina State Ports Authority has decided to pursue growth through public-private partnerships, calls by midsize container services and cultivation of specialty cargoes such as refrigerated products and bulk wood pellets.

An industry group seeking ways to improve performance of the Port of New York and New Jersey has issued 23 recommendations covering chassis, trucking, communication, performance indicators, and more.

International Longshoremen’s Association members at Charleston have authorized a strike, but the union has not attempted to halt work at the port.