Port News

The current market situation — amid the Red Sea crisis, growing port congestion and a sudden rise in demand — is similar to the early parts of the pandemic, where insufficient capacity led to the largest rate increases the industry has ever seen, writes Lars Jensen.

Carriers and forwarders say intra-Asia volumes are growing as long-haul ocean carriers redeploy vessels and omit calls on regional trades to bolster mainline east-west services.

The Chinese liner has reached a deal to acquire slot space on the WIN vessels, which local forwarder sources said began with the San Diego Bridge due to have arrived in Nhava Sheva Port on May 19.

Truckers working the Charleston market say it could take a week or longer to cut through the backlog of containers that didn’t move while terminal gates were shut for the better part of two days.

Longer transit times to Europe and North America as vessels continue to divert via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Red Sea region has delayed the return of empty containers to Asia, particularly China.

No cargo pickups or drop-offs are taking place at Charleston’s marine terminals and SC Ports’ two inland ports as officials scramble to resolve the software problem.

The union representing Canada’s West Coast longshore foremen say they are holding off a strike vote while a mediation process takes place with maritime employers.

Local industry observers and carrier executives expect Asian import flows into India to remain buoyant, aided by growing demand for raw materials and semi-finished products needed to support domestic industrial production lines.

The nearly 1.7 million square feet of cross-dock capacity that has come online over the past two years is a mark of volume growth and the deepening of supply chains through Norfolk’s terminals, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The apparent lifeline comes after port officials announced in April that container service at Portland would end in October due to growing financial losses and the inability to find a third-party operator to take over Terminal 6.

Record container traffic between Hamburg and the US combined with increasing imports from China to nudge throughput at Europe’s third-largest port back into the black.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will take full control of the Howland Hook marine terminal in Staten Island while New York City will take over Brooklyn’s Red Hook terminal.

A preliminary federal investigation found the use of a different breaker configuration than had been previously in use onboard the Dali that led to a series of power blackouts on its outbound voyage.

Brandy Christian led the Port of New Orleans during the acquisition of its on-dock rail network and spearheaded the development of a new terminal that will allow the port to service ultra-large ships.

Containers offloaded from ships calling at APM Terminal’s Maasvlakte II terminal can be palletized and in trucks “within hours,” thanks to a new cross-dock warehouse, according to the Maersk’s new head of northern Europe.

Maritime employers along Canada’s West Coast have filed a complaint asking the federal government to further intervene in stalled talks with the union representing longshore foremen.

The International Longshoremen’s Association and its maritime employers are highlighting amicable outcomes to previous contract talks as they get ready to restart coastwide negotiations.

Two weeks before new rules around detention and demurrage billing go into effect, the US Federal Maritime Commission has told ocean carriers that contracts independent of a “through bill of lading” fall outside its jurisdiction.

Roll-on/roll-off carriers Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Höegh Autoliners anticipate high auto volumes and tight capacity ahead amid Red Sea-driven diversions.

Poor schedule reliability, challenged by a container supply chain that has been stretched thin by diversions away from the Suez Canal, is causing spot rates from India to Europe to rebound.

Shippers will soon be able to retrieve cargo aboard the Dali, but they or their insurers will be expected to post sizable bonds to cover general average claims.

Terminal operator Enstructure unveiled a public-private partnership with Delaware that will eventually increase Wilmington’s annual capacity to more than 1.5 million TEUs.

Carrier attempts to mitigate the extended transit times of sailing around southern Africa by increasing the use of transshipment in the Mediterranean are being frustrated by growing port congestion.

The exercise equipment maker alleged in a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission that the forwarder failed to meet its obligations under a carrier haulage agreement.

The National Retail Federation has once again increased its forecast for imports into the 2024 peak shipping season, saying consumer spending remains strong despite geopolitical turmoil and stubbornly high inflation.

The Houston-based company expands to 30 vessels as it takes on management of six Harren Group bulkers and adds two more MPV ships to its fleet.

With US manufacturers shrinking their plastics inventories, overseas buyers are taking up an even more important role for North American resins producers.

Yusen Terminals in Los Angeles is already holding twice its normal inventory of rail containers and is draying some of the boxes to a near-dock storage yard to prevent the backlog from interfering with cargo handling operations.

US electronics imports are rebounding after a two-year decline as consumers replace devices purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic with newer products.

ONE's West India-North America Express (WIN) service is set to debut at Nhava Sheva with a May 12 call from the ONE Modern.

The tie-up is part of a wider move by individual members of THE Alliance to broaden their respective networks and maintain alliance commitments without adding a replacement carrier to succeed Hapag-Lloyd.

Container lines, which normally operate six weekly services connecting to Baltimore, have begun accepting bookings for shipments to the port as it eyes a reopening later this month.

While Wallenius Wilhelmsen has signed a terminal expansion deal at Brunswick, it will not be leaving Baltimore, the ro/ro carrier says.

The launch of the new services comes amid an investment boom by Chinese companies in Mexico as part of wider US nearshoring efforts that include Central and South America.

One forwarder that had a recent cargo sail from Mundra complained that loading was only confirmed subject to the additional charges being paid.

So-called “gray” pools in Kansas City, Memphis and St. Louis will stop operating on May 1 after ocean carriers and chassis providers pulled their support in the last 12 months.

The federal grants lean heavily on further electrification of heavy-duty trucks, but also look to other methods for reducing emissions.

CIE suspended all imports of chassis and frames during a year-long investigation, but the manufacturer can resume operations now that US customs officials have found no wrongdoing.

One of the worst-affected facilities is the Shanghai East Container Terminal, where there are delays of up to seven days, Maersk said in an advisory this week.

The risk of a strike along the East and Gulf coasts stems from the ILA believing it is entitled to a fair share of the ocean carriers’ pandemic windfall of over $400 billion, as estimated by one industry analyst.