Port News

Officials at the Panama Canal are working their way through a significant vessel backlog after an “unusual” increase in the number of ships awaiting transit began to back up on either side of the waterway weeks ago.

Gulftainer’s goal to triple volume over the decade through aggressive investment came a step closer in 2014 after the terminal operator increased handling 8 percent year-over-year.

The Port of Virginia is shifting three rubber-tire gantry cranes to the newly reopened Portsmouth Marine Terminal to handle overflow from larger terminals, and expected to have two of the yard cranes ready for use today.

Earlier this year before the three major equipment-leasing companies formed a gray chassis pool in Los Angeles-Long Beach, Direct ChassisLink Inc. was positioning 300 chassis into a marine terminal in Long Beach while Flexi-Van Leasing was pulling 280 of them out of the same facility. Thanks to the gray, or neutral chassis pool that went into operation on Mach 1, that type of inefficiency has very quickly become a thing of the past.

APL issued an upbeat customer advisory Wednesday about conditions at Los Angeles-Long Beach, saying that while many ships remain at anchor off the coast, the pace of cargo handling is noticeably picking up.

U.S. shippers’ potential shifting of imports from the West Coast to the East Coast would give the major eastern railroads more business, but how much the railroads will actually benefit depends on how much of the cargo is destined for the Midwest.

Ningbo Port Group sees potential in seaway-railway intermodal transport as the central Chinese port looks for more business.

Diversions from congested West Coast ports are helping drive traffic growth at the Savannah port, setting the largest U.S. southeast port to end its fiscal year with 14 to 14.5 percent more volume than in the prior year.

If the leadership of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is going to convince the union rank and file that the tentative contract agreement is a good deal for the general membership, the officers will have to fend off a concerted effort by militant members and retired members of the ILWU to jettison the deal.

Recognizing the impact that port congestion is having on the ability of marine terminals to work container ships, the Long Beach Harbor Commission has extended a cap it had placed on dockage fees charged to shipping lines until June 30.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 President Bobby Olvera told the Long Beach Harbor Commission that dockworkers are committed to clearing out the worst container backlog to hit the Southern California ports in more than a decade, and wants to see the reputation of the ports restored.

Winter weather that closed the Port of Virginia for four days contributed to a $560,000 operating loss for the port authority during February.

China is expected to step up pressure on Greece to revive the stalled privatization of the port of Piraeus during a visit to Beijing this week by ranking members of the new Athens government.

The Indian Ministry of Shipping has set April 15 as the date by which shipping lines should start issuing import delivery orders electronically to the cargo interests, another initiative toward paperless operation at major ports aimed at reducing wait times and costs.

Ports must embrace revolutionary changes in handling containers to meet carriers’ productivity demands for their large vessels, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Several dozen Baltimore dockworkers have filed a lawsuit challenging their national union’s takeover of their local chapter and dismissal of 500 new members before Wednesday’s referendum on a local contract.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are partnering with cargo interests, terminal operators, harbor truckers and the railroads to hasten the day when marine terminals become transit facilities rather than storage sites for containers.

The Port of Savannah’s volume of loaded containers in February jumped 8.6 percent from a year earlier as the Georgia Ports Authority posted across-the-board cargo increases.

DCT Gdansk has ordered 15 rubber-tire gantry cranes from Konecranes for scheduled deployment at the Polish terminal in the second half of 2016.

Crane operators employed by private rubber-tire gantry contractors at Gateway Terminals India ended a go-slow action and resumed normal activity over the weekend, terminal operator APM Terminals Mumbai said in a trade advisory.

Signs that the container logjam in Southern California is beginning to break are showing up on the truck spot market, as deconsolidated loads come up for grabs at West Coast warehouses.

Brazil’s beleaguered President Dilma Rousseff took time off from her political travails last week to inaugurate the first phase of a $557 million expansion at the port of Rio de Janeiro.

The International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance said they “strongly oppose” any attempt to place the longshore industry’s collective bargaining under the Railway Labor Act.

The daily vessel report Friday from the Marine Exchange of Southern California demonstrates that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are making progress in digging out from the congestion they experienced in recent months, but they still have a long way to go.

Nike had a strong winter in North America thanks to robust consumer demand, but it would have had an even better one were it not for the West Coast labor standoff.

Near-unprecedented congestion in Virginia has prompted the state port authority there to reach out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for permission to pay overtime for customs officers working extended operating hours.

PSA International is investing 40 million euros ($42.5 million) to boost the annual capacity of its container terminal in Sines, Portugal, to 2.5 million TEUs.

German barge operator Contargo doubled down on its warning that it will impose surcharges because of congestion at the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, saying it would decide whether to levy higher fees next week at the latest.

PSA International is investing 40 million euros [$42.5 million] to boost the annual capacity of its container terminal in Sines, Portugal, to 2.5 million TEUs.

The largest International Longshoremen’s Association local in Baltimore will vote again March 25 on a local contract agreement that union and employer representatives hope will end months of confusion and controversy at the port.

Malaysia plans to invest millions of dollars into the transportation infrastructure supporting Port Klang in an effort to boost exports out of the country’s main maritime gateway.

The announcement last week by carrier alliances that beginning in late March they will deploy three new all-water services from Asia to the East Coast through the Panama Canal was a dagger to the hearts of West Coast ports besieged by congestion and labor problems.

New York-New Jersey port truckers are growing frustrated with delays accompanying a late-winter cargo spike that container terminals are struggling to handle.

Dubai’s DP World booked an 11.8 percent increase in 2014 profit as it benefited from its focus on container terminals in fast-growing emerging markets.

Lost-time injury incidents at West Coast ports in 2014 declined by almost half compared to the peak year of 2002, according to the annual safety report published by the Pacific Maritime Association.

The formidable challenges facing Hong Kong port were perfectly captured in the above illustration that was presented with OOCL’s 2014 financial results recently. Few, if any, ports around the world have had to cope with such a thorough change in cargo mix over a relatively short period.

A March 13 U.S. District Court decision in Portland that ordered the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to pay $60,000 to the National Labor Relations Board for engaging in illegal work slowdowns at the Port of Portland has not resulted in improved productivity at the Oregon port.

The Port of Virginia is about to enter its second week of near-unprecedented congestion that has now spread to three of its four terminals on the Elizabeth River.