North American ports

As shipping lines gain greater leverage over ports and terminal operators through the formation of vessel-sharing alliances, the Port of Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved an incentive program designed to attract more cargo .

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The arrival in Long Beach this week of the CMA CGM Corte Real, with a capacity of 14,000 20-foot containers, will produce a new North American record for cargo-handling as more than 10,000 container moves will take place during the vessel’s stay.

Representatives from California’s Port of Long Beach and South Korea’s Busan Port Authority have signed a “sister port” agreement to enable the exchange of...

A federal judge has found the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in civil contempt of court for ignoring an order to stop waterborne picketing at grain barges.

Officials from the Tampa Port Authority and terminal operator Ports America, as well as regional exporters and importers, celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Zim Integrated Shipping Services’ calls at the Port of Tampa.

The Port of Oakland at the weekend broke ground on its Trade and Logistics Center, an import, export and transshipment hub with intermodal rail service that will bring logistics activities on to port property.

Sometime this year or early next, Florida will replace New York to become the third-largest U.S. state in population.

The South Carolina Ports Authority will launch a clean truck certification program on Jan. 1, 2014, to reduce port-related air emissions at SCPA’s container terminals.

Don’t count on exports to the Caribbean and Central America as a panacea for what ails the sputtering trade with the rest of the recovering world economy this year. What were fast-growing trade lanes are taking a breather. Many tourists are opting to skip their tropical vacations, so those islands are not importing retail goods in anything like the quantity they need when snowbirds come flocking.

The neighboring ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have dominated the trade between Asia and the U.S. for so long that the Southern California transportation community has come to believe it is its birthright.

The Port of Long Beach will find out soon enough if its search for a new executive director will attract potential candidates worthy of what should be one of the most prestigious jobs in the industry or if the port’s toxic political environment will discourage top talent from even applying.

The Port of Long Beach will work with industry stakeholders, including shipping lines, terminal operators and cargo interests, as it spends $4.5 billion to build the most productive port in the nation, Harbor Commission President Thomas Fields said on Oct. 30.

The Port of Cleveland is in final negotiations with the Dutch company Spliethoff Group to run a global container service between the Great Lakes and Europe via the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

The executive director of the Port of Oakland issued an invitation, and a warning, to dissident harbor truckers to join other stakeholders in working toward a solution to labor issues and congestion problems that have plagued the Northern California gateway for four months.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together this year will spend more than $1 billion for deeper channels, taller cranes, terminal automation, intermodal connectors and environmental enhancements, and most of the record spend is being driven by bigger ships.

Four super-post-Panamax cranes that arrived at the Port of Savannah in June are now fully operational at Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal.

Terminal operators at the Port of Seattle filed a request with the Federal Maritime Commission to form a discussion agreement that would allow the terminals to jointly discuss operations, facilities, services and other matters in an effort to increase efficiency at the port.

West Coast ports today are capable of handling the water and landside demands that the current generation of big ships are making on their infrastructure, but they must spend billions of additional dollars to accommodate even bigger container ships that will call there in the next few years.

The Port of Oakland is one of the busiest reefer ports in the country. That it’s close to California’s Central Valley growing area and the last port of call for a number of carriers before vessels head back to Asia are two of the main reasons for its reefer growth.

The Port of Virginia handled more than 185,185 TEUs in September, putting the port’s year-to-date volume growth at 6.3 percent.

All terminals at the Port of Oakland are operational today, after protesting truckers shut down much of the port yesterday, according to Jean Banker, deputy executive director and acting maritime director.

Steel export shipments through the Port of Mobile are growing so strongly that the Alabama State Port Authority is building a big new steel terminal to handle shipments of steel coil.

The Port of Long Beach reported its September container volume was 587,114 TEUs, up 14.7 percent compared with the same month last year.

Port of Oakland managers were bracing for possible trouble Tuesday morning, uncertain whether protesting truckers who shut much of the port down on Monday would return to disrupt operations for a second day.

The Port of Portland will market its strategic position as an export gateway as it seeks to attract other trans-Pacific carriers to replace Hanjin Shipping Co., which told port officials at the weekend it plans to discontinue its weekly service.

Hanjin Shipping plans to leave the Port of Portland, Ore., to cut costs, putting the port’s container terminal and regional economy at risk, The Oregonian reports.

Jimmy Lyons is on a hunt for a lot more empty import containers to load with all the export cargo funneling through the Port of Mobile.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott pledged that he would ask the Florida legislature to include $14.7 million in funding for Port Everglades’ Southport Turning Notch project.

A U.S. district court in Oregon on Oct. 15 issued a preliminary injunction intended to prevent the International Longshore and Warehouse Union from picketing a barge company that shuttles grain on the Snake and Columbia rivers to the Marubeni-Columbia Grain elevator in Portland.

The Port of Baltimore was closed today when International Longshoremen’s Association members went on strike following a breakdown in protracted contract negotiations with the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore.

Containerized imports in Los Angeles continued to build in September for the peak shipping season, reaching a monthly high of 370,785 20-foot-equivalent container units.

The South Carolina Ports Authority handled 133,011 20-foot-equivalent units in September, partially driving a 3.3 percent increase in container volume in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.

Rich Dines wants more reefer cargo moving across the docks in Long Beach.

Zim’s special cargo team has handled a shipment of a 100-ton, 92-foot-long yacht, shipped on board the Zim Ontario from Asia to Port of Savannah.

There’s little good news coming out of Washington these days. The federal government partially shut down at the beginning of the month after a stalemate in Congress over funding President Obama’s health care reform law. Congress and the Obama administration failed to address long-term fiscal issues, allowing the federal budget sequestration — the proverbial gun pointed to its own head — to fire.

Los Angeles-Long Beach continues to dominate the U.S. import trade from Asia, but Southern California’s market share of containerized imports has declined on average 0.8 percent per year since 2003, according to an industry consultant.

Global Terminal in Bayonne, N.J., this week handled a ship with capacity of 9,300 twenty-foot-equivalent units, reportedly the largest container ship to call at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

PortMiami has taken delivery of four new super-post-Panamax cranes to handle the new generation of mega-ships that will begin passing through the Panama Canal in 2015.

Auto Warehousing Company’s facility at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 has received approval for export shipments to China following inspections by governmental auditors from that country.

Import volume at major U.S. retail ports is expected to rise 9.1 percent month-over-month in October, despite concerns over the government shutdown...