Port News

Negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association have reached a tentative coastwide contract agreement for five years after more than nine months of bargaining.

The North Carolina State Ports Authority is extending gates hours by an hour at the Port of Wilmington to help keep pace with volume growth.

The mayors of Long Beach and Los Angeles told negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association to reach a coastwide contract settlement now.

The U.S. Labor Secretary on Thursday told the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association that they have until Friday to reach a contract or they’ll have to negotiate in Washington D.C.

The Port of Baltimore handled record volumes of containers, automobiles and general cargo in 2014, the Maryland Port Administration reported.

With West Coast ports reporting plunges in container volumes in January, port executives are becoming increasingly vocal in demanding that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association end the impasse in negotiations that is ravaging their ports.

Wal-Mart brought wider attention to how West Coast port congestion is hurting shippers, saying on Thursday that shipment delays are hurting its business and threaten its spring and Easter inventory.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has entered negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, reflecting a ratcheting up of Obama administration pressure on both sides to reach a deal in order to end crippling West Coast port congestion.

The Port of Oakland sharply criticized the International Longshore and Warehouse Union local in Northern California for in effect shutting down the port today in order to hold its regularly scheduled stop-work meeting during the day shift.

Drayage drivers serving the port of Manila warn that new rules requiring the phase-out of older trucks will cause congestion to rear its head again at the Philippines’ largest container port.

Multimodal logistics operator XPO sees opportunities as well as challenges in the West Coast container pileup, as shippers struggle to move freight inland.

Some West Coast employers are appealing directly to working longshoremen to scrutinize the details of the Pacific Maritime Association’s contract proposal, with the implication that they should not let this offer slip away because they won’t receive a better one.

The Port of Charleston posted year-over-year increases of 12.6 percent in loaded 20-foot-equivalent units and 18 percent in total TEUs in January, benefiting from what port CEO James Newsome described as “across-the-board” cargo growth.

The largest International Longshoremen’s Association local in Baltimore rejected a tentative local contract that employers and ILA international officials had agreed upon in an effort to settle a 2-year-old labor standoff.

The Port of Portland and its container terminal operator, ICTSI, have a strategy to attract another carrier or carriers when Hanjin Shipping Co. next month leaves the Pacific Northwest port.

Florida needs to amp up its marketing efforts, offer new incentives and cut red tape in order to reclaim containerized imports and exports tied to the state but handled by other states’ ports, according to study released on Wednesday.

Shippers could see truck pricing 'skyrocket' as they scramble to move containers inland once the labor situation at U.S. West Coast ports is resolved, BB&T Capital Markets said.

ICTSI, which operates Portland’s only container terminal, will seek to find a replacement in the trans-Pacific trades when Hanjin Shipping Co. ends its service at the Pacific Northwest port on March 9.

Hopes of a pre-Chinese New Year container volume surge through Hong Kong port were firmly dashed as the January data showed the transshipment hub actually saw a year-over-year decline of 6.1 percent during the first month.

With at least 50 container ships anchored off the West Coast on Tuesday, the eyes of the international trade community were focused on San Francisco to learn if U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez could break the impasse in contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez’s meetings with West Coast longshore union and employer negotiators have generated hope, skepticism — and questions.

Port of Oakland executives blame a dramatic container volume decline in January on congestion and the inability of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and waterfront employers to agree upon a new coastwide contract.

The Brazilian port of Santos recently handled the largest container ship in its history, the 10,900-TEU CMA CGM Tigris. But if Brazilian pilots have their way, neither it nor other big ships will be allowed to berth in Santos or other Brazilian ports.

Port of New Orleans CEO Gary LaGrange says new services from Chiquita and CMA CGM, prospects for additional services this year, and a strengthening U.S. economy make him confident the port will exceed its 2014 record volume of 490,526 TEUs, including empties, which was up 8.8 percent year-over-year.

Driven by firm auto shipments, the Port of Nagoya easily retained its status as the biggest export hub among Japan's airports and seaports in 2014 in terms of value, according to figures from customs authorities.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez is scheduled to meet Tuesday with West Coast longshore union and management negotiators in an effort to end a bargaining standoff that’s causing increasing pain across supply chains.

The Spanish port of Algeciras maintained its narrow lead over domestic rival Valencia as the biggest Mediterranean container hub in 2014, but it faces a growing challenge from new West African terminals.

Port congestion on the U.S. West Coast is estimated to have caused the diversion of as much as 150,000 TEUs to East Coast ports during 2014, according to Drewry's Container Insight Weekly.

President Obama is sending Labor Secretary Tom Perez to California to meet with International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association negotiators to help them reach a contract as West Coast congestion nears a breaking point.

An independent Australian government tribunal will consider whether to set new work rules or pay standards for the nation's drayage drivers, as well as other truckers, in 2015.

West Coast ports resumed vessel loading and unloading Friday amid continuing labor strife and congestion that has left the tally of backlogged container ships at nearly four dozen and rising.

The Obama administration is under growing pressure to prod negotiators to reach a deal on a West Coast labor contract, and to intervene if the ports’ months-long congestion keeps edging toward a total shutdown.

President Obama’s proposal to restore U.S.-Cuba diplomatic trade relations has kindled interest in increased shipments between the nations, and is raising hopes among Gulf ports and shippers that a new market could develop almost in their front yard.

The U.S. East Coast spot rate hit $5,049 per FEU this week as rising demand for the all-water service pushed rates to record levels, according to the latest reading of the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI).

Brazil will release a National Export Plan early in March and it can’t come fast enough for shippers in the South American country, who were expecting it to launch this month and see it as adding to a weak currency in boosting exports

What is the true impact of the West Coast labor showdown on U.S. agricultural exports? There is controversy over the data.

Port Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, expects container volume to expand roughly 4 percent this year after traffic increased 3.1 percent in 2014 to a record 2.9 million TEUs.

The president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union recorded a video message urging members to support ILWU contract negotiators and ignore “bullshit” from the Pacific Maritime Association.

DP World is to build a third berth at London Gateway, its deep-water container terminal and logistics complex 25 miles east of the U.K. capital.

Texas and Louisiana ports believe they’re still early in what they expect to be an extended boom in exports of chemical products produced in the region with cheap U.S. natural gas.