Port News

East Coast and West Coast ports snatched a sizable share of the U.S.containerized import market from their West Coast counterparts in the first fourth months of the year, as shippers shifted cargo away from the congested gateways.

The leader of the management group that negotiates with West Coast longshoremen said this week that the negotiating process that yielded months of disruption through February is “not sustainable.”

The long-stalled privatization of the port of Piraeus is finally underway with three foreign companies bidding for control of the leading Mediterranean transhipment hubs.

West Coast ports say they’ll have productivity back to normal by the end of May after more than four months of congestion, but, in the meantime, some shippers continue to struggle with delays and lost business.

The Port of Virginia is falling short. Record volumes and a return to profit in the past year have been matched with near-unprecedented congestion and user dissatisfaction, Port Director and CEO John Reinhart said Thursday.

While besuited port industry executives milled about hotel ballrooms at the Virginia International Trade Symposium Thursday, truck-driving men and women in shirtsleeves marched in protest on the streets outside.

Southern California truckers who said they were improperly charged late fees for containers they couldn’t return on time to gridlocked ports received mixed decisions in the first arbitrators’ rulings on their cases.

A decision by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) to implement a container booking system to better manage truck movements at its flagship Manila terminal will be welcomed by the port that bore the brunt of choking congestion last year.

Convinced that Oakland will return to normal operations by the end of May, port executives are looking ahead to the beginning of peak-shipping season this summer, and they will soon roll out a series of operational improvements to prepare for the next surge in cargo.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to dig out of the vessel backlog that has plagued the largest U.S. port complex since last fall. For the third consecutive day, the Marine Exchange of Southern California reported that no container ships were at anchor.

APT Terminals and a dockworkers union offer disputing views on the impact of a labor dispute at Peru's Port of Callao, a major maritime gateway on the West Coast of South America.

Legislation pushed by the third-ranking Senate Republican aims to keep Congress more in the loop on port congestion flare-ups and gauge how labor negotiations impact port performance.

Maersk will continue to invest in the expansion of APM Terminals despite its port unit posting a reduced profit for the first time in “many, many quarters and years,” according to Nils Andersen, the group’s CEO.

Container traffic at the Port of Oakland increased 1.7 percent in April over the same month last year, indicating that the decline in business caused by labor issues the past seven months is probably over.

Sinda-Rio, the ship agents association for Rio de Janeiro, is protesting an effort by a group of port workers to do what they deem unnecessary work that will adds cost to shippers using Brazil’s third busiest port.

Roughly 650 union dockworkers at the busiest terminal in Callao, Peru, the largest container gateway for the west coast of South America, have threatened to begin an indefinite strike Wednesday.

The fastest-growing port in North America in 2014, with 13.8 percent year-over-year growth, was Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Its Fairview Container Terminal was recently acquired by DP World. With 11.23 percent growth, Mexico’s Pacific port of Manzanillo edged out Boston, at 11.20 percent growth, for the No. 2 spot.

Vessel, yard and gate operations at West Coast ports are not yet back to normal after almost seven months of crippling congestion, but the ports and port users are confident that “normal’ will happen by the end of May.

CMA CGM Group on Monday said it will work with a Cuban partner to run a logistics complex serving the Port of Mariel, giving a boost to the island’s effort to make itself a transshipment hub.

Logistics providers in India’s Nhava Sheva Port complex reported a “system outage” temporarily disrupted truck traffic at Jawaharlal Nehru Container Terminal Sunday late afternoon, adding to inland infrastructure woes that had already been building there in the past year.

Volvo Car Corp.’s plan for a $500 million factory in Berkeley County, South Carolina, is likely to generate additional automotive cargo for the Port of Charleston, which already is the primary port for BMW’s plant in the state.

After more than 18 months of delays, the much heralded first phase of Brazil’s more than Reais 10 billion ($3.36 billion) port concession program received the go-ahead to proceed from the Tribunal de Contas da Uniao.

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) reported increasing volumes and revenue in the first quarter, with net income largely driven by better margins at its facilities in Mexico and Honduras.

South Korea's Busan port is consolidating its position as northeastern Asia’s transshipment hub.

The same developers that debuted a Web app to cut down on truck drivers’ empty runs are about to launch a new truck-focused traffic app.

The port authority for Santos in Brazil, Codesp, has been given permission to increase rates by a whopping 31.7 percent, and shippers should prepare for the increased costs.

Container volumes at major state-owned port complexes in India expanded 3.9 percent year-over-year in April, the first month of fiscal year 2015-16, continuing a healthy growth trend seen during the past year, according to the latest provisional port statistics compiled by JOC.com.

Containerized imports through major U.S. port gateways hit record levels in March as West Coast ports disgorged shipments that backed up during weeks of gridlock, according to the latest Global Port Tracker report.

Container volume at Port Everglades rose 9.1 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, as growth in empty-container shipments outpaced an 0.7 percent rise in full 20-foot-equivalent units.

India signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran to build and operate cargo facilities at the Chabahar port, a free trade zone site on the Gulf of Oman, with the aim of allowing New Delhi a sea-land access route to Afghanistan.

They’re a few months behind schedule, but Seattle and Tacoma are one step closer to solidifying their Northwest Seaport Alliance, after submitting a final draft of their agreement this week.

Port Metro Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, is a step closer to building a new container terminal. The port has submitted an environmental impact statement for a new three-berth container terminal in Delta, British Columbia.

APM Terminals in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (Nhava Sheva) — India’s busiest container port complex — strongly refuted a trade advisory by logistics providers blaming the deteriorating terminal gate activity for long truck queues outside its facility, known as Gateway Terminals India.

Port congestion and labor issues took a toll on West Coast port volumes in 2014, as West Coast ports lost market share and East Coast ports gained market share, according to a report by CBRE Americas Research.

Logistics providers out of India’s largest container port complex — Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust — are again reporting abrupt terminal gate closings and long truck waits, even as the stakeholders put in place a spate of proactive steps to streamline gate activity and truck flow in the past few months.

Direct ChassisLink has expanded its Direct ChassisLink pool in Southern California and has contributed to the pool formerly included in the Grand Alliance pool. The Direct ChassisLink pool now has 28,000 units in Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Four super post-Panamax cranes that will span 22 rows of containers have been delivered to the Port of Houston’s Barbours Cut Container Terminal after a 73-day voyage from South Korea.

Greek dock workers are due to stage a 24-hour strike on Thursday to protest the privatization of the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki.