Port News

Money, environmental and labor issues are complicating the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s effort to replace or retrofit old trucks with newer, less-polluting engines.

A proposed $272 million CSX Transportation intermodal hub would give shippers using the Port of Wilmington better access to the fast-growing markets of Charlotte, Raleigh and the Research Triangle, along with the entirety of the CSX network.

An analysis of federal data by the American Trucking Associations shows the truck-related fatality rate dropped in 2014 for the second straight year, and is 40 percent lower than it was a decade ago, despite increased travel by truckers and motorists on U.S. highways.

Shippers and ocean carriers pushing for capacity and productivity improvements at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust could see some results, as the port administration has significantly increased the length overall limit for ships calling at India’s biggest container gateway.

The world’s fifth-largest container line, Hapag-Lloyd, expects no major tonnage changes on all-water container services through the Panama Canal before the end of this year.

DP World Subcontinent said it is working to end the protracted slowdown at its flagship terminal in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s biggest, public container gateway.

Deepening of the Port of Charleston’s 45-foot channel to 52 feet moved a step closer this week when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended congressional authorization of the project.

The Port of Virginia’s container volume topped 2.5 million 20-foot-equivalent units for the first time as its terminals posted a 6.5 percent increase in TEUs during 2015, despite a decline in December volume.

A proposal by the Port of Long Beach to reduce the amount of time allowed for the storage of containers at marine terminals from four days at present to six work shifts has brought into sharp focus the congestion issues that cargo interests face not only in Southern California, but at all major gateways as they struggle to handle some of the largest container ships afloat.

The municipal government of Yokohama in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture has set up a new company to operate the prefecture's ports in Yokohama and Kawasaki in an integrated manner.

Seatrade Group’s StreamLines, N.V. plans to add a call at Port Canaveral to its weekly Blue Stream container ship service between the Caribbean and Central America and Europe, giving the Florida port its first regular container service.

The Singapore port is reducing the fees it charges container lines 10 percent as the volume at the world’s second-busiest port and Asia’s top transshipment hub sags.

Container throughput at the Port of Oakland in December declined 8.3 percent as both imports and exports were down compared to a relatively strong December 2014, according to numbers posted on the port’s website.

Greece today confirmed Cosco Pacific is the only bidder for a majority stake in the Piraeus Port Authority and immediately asked the Chinese company to submit an improved offer for control of the nation’s largest port.

Even though the official opening of Panama Canal’s third set of locks is only about four months away, the true impact of the $5.25 billion project on U.S. East and West Coast ports is yet to be determined because of the many factors that affect international trade flows, the vice president of marketing at Manzanillo International Terminals said Monday.

Long truck lines and gate congestion that flared up off-and-on last year have come back to haunt shippers and ocean carriers using Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s biggest, public container handler, according to trade updates issued by local logistics services providers.

A tug strike on Australia’s eastern seaboard has disrupted shipping with further nation-wide industrial action scheduled by an engineers union over the following week.

Retailers who ship through the Port of Long Beach urged the second-largest U.S. port not to move forward with its proposal to change free time provisions in its tariff from four days at present to six work shifts until the Southern California port complex gets a better handle on its congestion problems.

An environmental group criticized as “disgraceful” a plan by the Port of New York and New Jersey to relax a Jan. 1, 2017, deadline for replacement of more than 6,000 port drayage trucks with newer vehicles.

Amid the backdrop of the global shipping downturn, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has decided to hold off on raising fees for using the country’s trading ports and plans to reduce port fees by 70 percent over the next three years.

Mumbai-based J.M. Baxi Group is reportedly the final bidder for a public-private-partnership contract to upgrade, operate and maintain existing container terminal infrastructure at the Port of Kandla, a major, state-owned port complex on India’s west coast.

The government of Tanzania said the $10 billion Bagamoyo Port development project, one of the largest port developments currently planned worldwide, has not been suspended and that work on the project would commence in July.

Product inspection failure rates at factories in the export powerhouses of Asia rose sharply in 2015, both in China and across the newer sourcing countries, according to global quality control and compliance firm Asia Inspection.

Container ship lines say they’ve been forced to skip port calls at New Orleans because of high Mississippi River levels that have reduced clearance under bridges.

Port Canaveral has selected Capt. John W. Murray, President and CEO of Hapag-Lloyd USA, to lead the port.

Container throughput at India’s major, state-owned ports showed a modest increase in the first three fiscal quarters from a year earlier as sluggish global demand continues to weigh heavily on the country’s foreign trade.

Gate operations at Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal, a DP World facility in India’s biggest container gateway, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, are back to normal Friday even as the industrial action by a group of unionized workers over wage improvement demands entered its 10th day.

The refurbished Nutter terminal at the Port of Oakland will receive its first vessel call Friday since Everport Terminal Services closed the facility in early November for upgrades.

Florida’s Port Everglades is looking into developing a regional logistics center on roughly 16.7 acres of land at the port.

South Carolina Ports Authority CEO and President Jim Newsome sat down with JOC.com Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi on the sidelines of JOC.com’s annual Port Performance North America Conference in December to discuss the Port of Charleston’s strong performance in 2015, the port’s future prospects amid slowing global trade, and the steps its taking to handle mega-ships that will soon call at East Coast ports.

Brazil’s government needs to offer more guarantees investments will not be interfered with if foreign global terminal operators are to participate in the latest port concession process, according to Wilen Manteli, president of the Brazilian Association of Ports and Terminals.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to revise its clean-air plan by lifting a truck-replacement deadline that would have banned more than 6,000 drayage trucks from container terminals next Jan. 1.

U.S. ports and terminal operators are addressing congestion by building larger, modern facilities, some of which feature the latest in automation. They are extending terminal gate hours, testing innovative processes such as container dray-offs and peel-offs, and investing in land-side connectors.

Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal, or DP World Nhava Sheva, strongly refuted a charge by logistics providers that the abrupt disruption brought on by labor slowdowns had seriously hurt gate movements at the terminal in India’s biggest, public container port complex, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

Foreign trade-related container throughput at the port of Yokohama fell for the seventh month in a row in October as the government of Japan takes action to shore up the international competitiveness of its key container ports.

Rotterdam’s container cranes will come to a halt this afternoon as dockworkers walk off the job for 24 hours to protest possible job losses at the port’s new highly automated terminals.

CSX Transportation and Ports America Chesapeake have signed an agreement handing management of the Port of Baltimore's intermodal container transfer facility to Ports America.

After struggling all year with cargo diversion due to labor problems, West Coast ports in November finally turned the corner, registering gains in all categories of container throughput.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone on Wednesday announced it reached an agreement with its terminal joint venture partner Terminal Investment Ltd., a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Co., to consolidate operations at Mundra, as India’s biggest port operator positions itself for further growth under new CEO Karan Adani.

If an uncertain global economy wasn’t enough for shippers and transportation providers, 2016 will be filled with major changes, from the massive container shipping weight mandate to liner consolidation. Other threats and opportunities will likely emerge during the year, but the 10 trends outlined here will definitely be in play and impact global supply chains. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.