Port News

Workers handling rubber-tired gantry crane operations and their employers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust reached a new contract late Tuesday, ending a week-long strike that shut down APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India facility, the largest container terminal in India.

Customs broker A.N. Deringer is billing its new less-than-containerload service from Hong Kong to Toronto as faster than via U.S. West Coast offerings, and free of U.S. harbor maintenance taxes and customs paperwork.

New York-New Jersey truckers and APM Terminals are exploring a pilot program that would allow drayage drivers to make expedited pickups of containers that have been pre-sorted in blocks for a single customer.

Russia plans to increase container volume through the Baltic Sea via the opening of a Bronka seaport and CMA CGM weekly services set to begin calling the port in September.

The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project may face a fresh setback if construction workers building the third set of locks follow through with their threat to strike.

In a sign Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust users are running out of patience with congestion spurred by the shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, which halted operations August 4 following labor troubles, ship agents representing ocean carriers in JNPT have called on federal government agencies to urgently step in to restore normalcy at the country’s busiest container port.

Container ships greater than 10,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units calling at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in July experienced significantly longer berth stays than the overall vessel average, with Long Beach also recording greater mega-ships arrival delays than the industry average, CargoSmart data has found.

The labor dispute that has shut down Gateway Terminals India at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust port complex in Mumbai has again focused negative attention on a country that has long been plagued by a lack of investment in its logistics infrastructure.

Ports in the U.S. Southeast — the country’s fastest growing — are aggressively spreading their intermodal rail reach into the hinterland, giving shippers facing higher truck rates and capacity shortages an added incentive.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone posted a 13 percent increase in net earnings in the first fiscal quarter on the back of strong cargo gains, due in part to Jawaharlal Nehru Port traffic diversions.

Union picketing is disrupting operations at Hutchison Ports Australia’s terminals in Sydney and Brisbane, even after the terminal operator denied accusations that it slashed workers at its facilities to bring in more automation.

Ocean carriers have begun levying surcharges on Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust cargo to compensate for operational cost increases caused by the prolonged shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, even as JNPT maintains it is taking all the necessary steps to mitigate supply chain disruptions at India’s largest container gateway.

India’s major public ports boosted container volumes by nearly 5 percent in July from a year earlier, helping the ports recover from a year-over-year decline of 1.5 percent in throughput recorded last month, according to the latest provisional port statistics compiled by JOC.com.

Following rapidly in the wake of the launch of weekly containerized rail service for a rival Santos port terminal, Grupo Libra has gained its own service with rail operator MRS Logistica to serve its two right bank terminals.

International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) boosted its throughput and revenue in the first half, but various one-time gains and charges from its global operations saw net profit decline by 1 percent to $100.4 million.

APM Terminal’s Elizabeth terminal at the Port of New York-New Jersey will reopen 6 a.m. Monday after closing Friday because of the death of a dockworker.

Tauranga is more than half-finished with a $238 million project that will allow it to handle container ships with capacities of up 6,000 20-foot equivalent units.

Import cargo volumes at the largest U.S. container gateways are forecast to rise 3.6 percent year-over-year this month as shippers gear up for the beginning of the peak season.

APM Terminal’s Elizabeth terminal at the Port of New York-New Jersey was closed Friday afternoon after a top loader struck and killed a female dockworker.

All operations at Gateway Terminals India, or APMT Mumbai, continue to be shut down after conciliatory efforts by stakeholders to settle a prolonged labor contract dispute related to rubber-tired gantry crane operations collapsed Friday afternoon, forcing ocean carriers to reroute vessels and causing unprecedented shipping backlogs at the country’s biggest public container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

APM Terminals has acquired the Vado Ligure Reefer Terminal alongside its Vado container port on Italy’s North West coast which is due to open in 2018.

Hutchison Port Holdings will close its Sydney terminal three years after entering the Australian market, and has locked out workers at the facility and its Brisbane terminal.

The Georgian government expects annual container traffic through the country’s seaports to roughly double to 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units by 2020, due to growth in the region and the expansion of it two major seaports, Poti and Batumi.

West Coast ports in June continued their slow recovery from labor problems that caused them to bleed cargo earlier this year, although total container volume in June was still down 7 percent year-over-year.

The Port of Philadelphia, one of the fastest growing import ports in the U.S., is one step closer to building a cargo facility after it announced a request for qualifications.

The Chinese government is prohibiting some port service charges and reducing the costs of others in an attempt to galvanize container shipping as the as the country’s container volume growth slows due to reduced global demand.

Tyson Foods was forced to redirect beef exports to alternative markets and sell them at lower prices during the recent U.S. West Coast port congestion, CEO Donald J. Smith told analysts.

Australia’s largest container port has decided not to hike DP World’s rent by 750 percent ahead of its privatisation, with the Port of Melbourne settling instead for an increase of around 20 percent.

Brazilian stakeholders in the transport industry from state governments to port and trade organizations are pushing back strongly against the federal government’s plans to centralize all the country’s port authorities under the aegis of the Special Ports Ministry (SEP) in Brasilia.

The Ukrainian government is considering easing the customs clearance of containers at seaports to stop the 30 percent plunge in container volume that has plagued the country since the eruption of tensions with Russia.

Gateway Terminals India, the largest container facility in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, remained closed to all shipping activities for the third consecutive day Thursday due to labor troubles, leaving beleaguered ocean carriers scrambling for alternative berthing options and shippers’ cargo stranded at the country’s busiest container port. Other terminals are also facing congestion on connecting arteries.

Two groups in Nova Scotia are racing to nail down a long-term commitment by one or more container lines to call at their proposed deep-water container terminals with super post-Panamax ships on rotations from Asia to Europe.

SeaLand and APL have selected Port Everglades as the first and last U.S. call for their recently launched Americas joint service.

Eight ports on the U.S. East Coast made substantial gains in import market share in the first six months of 2015. A booming import market, West Coast diversions tied to the recent labor crisis, and port investments helped East and Gulf Coast ports edge out all but one of their West Coast counterparts.

Hutchison Port Holdings is facing labor backlash on multiple fronts in Australia over plans to slash its workforce and turn to automation in a bid to cut costs, spurring work stoppages for four hours on July 30 in Brisbane and August 3 in Sydney.

The commissioners of the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma have given the final OK needed to launch an alliance aimed at helping the former rivals stave off growing competition, and regain market share.

Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, has filed a lawsuit to force Vancouver drayage firms to pay back wages to drivers that were part of a 2014 agreement to end a month-long strike at Port Metro Vancouver.

Port Itapoa is expecting an 11 percent jump in container traffic this year, thanks to robust chicken and beef exports to China, new services and better road connections.