Port News

Vessels on Monday continued to back up at anchor at the Port of Oakland and truck turn times were three hours or longer now that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has chosen the Northern California port as its latest target for work slowdowns on the West Coast.

The Kenya Ports Authority is seeking operators for a new, $300 million terminal at the Port of Mombasa.

Most terminals at the Port of New York-New Jersey will not extend gate hours in anticipation of cargo backlogs from the New Year holiday, the port authority announced today.

United Liner Agencies (India), part of the Mumbai-based diversified logistics firm J.M. Baxi Group, has been selected to upgrade and operate an existing container terminal at Haldia Dock, a sister facility of Kolkata Port Trust.

Growing e-commerce in the European Union are creating new opportunities for logistics firms but also new liabilities in areas such as product safety, a transport-focused UK law firm argues.

In a significant policy shift, the Japanese government has become the top shareholder of a company operating the Port of Kobe and the Port of Osaka, collectively called the Ports of Hanshin, to help shore up its sagging international competitiveness.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (Nhava Sheva), India's largest container gateway, is showing no signs of getting ahead of the congestion problems that have plagued India’s largest container handler for much of 2014.

The Central American canal projects continue to generate questions over funding — where it will come from in the case of the proposed Nicaraguan plan, and where it is going in the Panama Canal upgrade.

West Coast newspaper editorials are jumping in on the side of federal mediators joining the stalled West Coast longshore talks, in a sign that public patience is wearing thin as losses mount for importers and exporters amid continuing delays at ports up and down the coast.

NYK Line has teamed up with Gujarat Pipavav Port, an APM Terminals facility on India’s west coast, to build and operate a new dedicated automobile logistics terminal at the Pipavav port complex.

HONG KONG — The Austrlalian operations of DP World will face a tough start to the year after a series of bitter disputes in recent months with local trade unions over pay and working conditions at its four port facilities.

The berthing delays that have seen ships back up at anchorage off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for the past several weeks are now spreading up the coast to Oakland, in a spillover effect from the Southern California congestion.

With the year coming to a close with no end in sight to the delays at West Coast ports, pressure is building for the federal government to intervene in stalled negotiations between longshoremen and employers that are blamed for at least of the congestion.

Signaling that resolution of congestion issues in Southern California is still a ways away, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are taking the additional step of asking the federal government for permission to work together to resolve the worst congestion seen in years at the largest U.S. port complex.

The Port of Long Beach on Monday will open a temporary 30-acre site for empty containers in an attempt to free up chassis and ease congestion that has frustrated shippers for months.

Less than a month before it takes effect, the Port Metro Vancouver drayage program faces major headwinds with truck drivers threatening to strike if changes to pay aren’t made.

The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said today it’s reaching out to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to see whether it can help in labor talks with U.S. West Coast port employers, and if so, when it could aid.

Truck congestion caused by the deteriorating quality of road networks around the Nhava Sheva port complex, India's largest container gateway, is creating a nightmare for shippers already dealing with months-long rail delays and ocean carrier surcharges at India’s largest container gateway, also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

The Nigerian Shippers Council hopes its new regulatory powers will help bring Nigerian ports up to global standards by ensuring concessions are awarded fairly.

Confirming that eight months into negotiations progress has come to a standstill in West Coast longshore talks, employers on Monday requested federal mediators to enter the negotiations.

An inland port launched by the South Carolina Ports Authority roughly a year ago has exceeded its expectations, reflecting shippers’ interest in reducing trucking costs and securing capacity via intermodal rail.

The Port of Oakland will open a gate on Sunday and begin sending operational status updates to harbor truckers in order to reduce truck congestion.

The port of Rotterdam and Europe Container Terminals, its biggest container handler, have buried the hatchet over a bitter three year dispute over the award of terminal concessions in Europe’s top box hub.

Wilhelmshaven hailed its success in landing a third 2M service as a sign of ocean carriers’ growing interest in Germany’s only deep water port that is virtually empty more than two years after opening.

The first phase of an upgrade to Papua New Guinea’s Lae Port has been completed, paving the way for a boost in cargo throughput at the country’s most important gateway.

As labor negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union heated up this week, JOC readers clamored for information on the topic.

Two former high-ranking International Longshoremen’s Association officials and a Genovese mobster pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy that included a three-decade scheme to extort dockworkers for “Christmas tribute” payoffs.

Contract negotiations continued Friday between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. As has been the case since the negotiations began in May, neither side revealed any content from the talks.

Strong monthly volume growth at the Port of Tacoma came to an abrupt halt in November, when the port, plagued by labor productivity issues, saw international container volumes plummet 14.1 percent year-over-year, new port statistics show.

APM Terminals will start construction of a new container terminal in Costa Rica next eyar after scaling the final hurdle facing the long-delayed $1 billion project.

Indonesia’s largest port operator Pelabuhan Indonesia II (IPC) will partner with PSA International, Japanese investment company Mitsui & Co. and NYK Line to construct and operate a container terminal at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok port.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association returned today to direct contract negotiations but didn’t release any report from the meeting.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is engaged in a high-stakes game of work stoppages and slowdowns at the Port of Portland that is moving slowly but steadily toward a conclusion.

Capacity at a container terminal at Viskhapatnam Port, a major state-owned cargo hub on India’s southeastern coast, is set to double to 1 million TEUs annually after a consortium signed a Rs. 633.11 crore (US $102 million) construction contract.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has rejected Maher Terminals’ claim that Port Authority of New York and New Jersey acted illegally in granting a more favorable lease to adjacent APM Terminals.

Holiday shoppers in Asia will have to deal with a little less Christmas cheer this year, as trans-Pacific shipments of Christmas trees from the U.S. Pacific Northwest are the latest casualty of West Coast port congestion.

DP World’s shareholders today backed the Dubai-based global terminal operator’s plan to delist its shares on the London stock exchange on the basis that they are too thinly traded there.

China Merchants (Holdings) International (CMHI) reported double-digit growth in throughput from January through November, continuing the strong increase in international trade that also drove up volumes at rival port operator Cosco Pacific.

Manila’s efforts to clear the backlog of containers congesting the port are being threatened by the Christmas and New Year holidays that the Philippine Ports Authority fears could bring the yard utilisation back to congestion levels.