Port News

In a major breakthrough, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on Monday agreed to federal mediation to resolve contract negotiations that are now in their eighth month.

Asia’s container terminal operators will be the big winners in 2015, according to the latest HSBC transport indicators report that has International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) as one of its top picks.

Contract negotiations resumed today between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association after the holiday recess, but it appears that no significant progress will be made until both parties agree to compromise on the controversial issue of chassis maintenance and repair.

Dennis Morgan is taking the wheel as president of Cowan Systems, an evolving dedicated truckload and drayage carrier with trucking roots reaching back to the 1920s.

Several container terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey are extending hours for gate cut-offs this week to keep pace with heavy post-holiday demand for import deliveries.

The Port of Oakland and its terminal operators are chipping away at their cargo backlog by running Saturday and Sunday gates, and the weekend gate program could remain in effect for another month.

The Panama Canal Authority recently cleared the way for building a big new transshipment port at Corozal near the Pacific entrance of the canal that is expected to boost traffic once the current expansion project is completed in early 2016.

Poland’s Port of Gdansk is negotiating with Malta-based Mariner Capital on an agreement to privatize operations at the port’s multipurpose cargo terminals.

Two more U.S. West Coast newspapers have come out in support of a federal mediator to enter the stalled and increasingly acrimonious West Coast longshore negotiations, effectively siding with employers who have called for mediation.

The Metrans subsidiary of Hamburg port operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) has brought its ninth terminal into operation on the main rail line connecting the German seaports with Prague, the inland hub serving the Czech Republic.

U.S. economic growth and disruptions on the West Coast are combining to make 2015 a promising year for U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports.

The Pacific Maritime Association on Friday answered a public relations blitz by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by releasing statistics that show that over the past two months the union has reduced by two-thirds the number of skilled equipment operators being dispatched each day at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association enter the weekend at a standoff at Los Angeles-Long Beach as employers plan to reduce the number of longshore crews that will be assigned to work vessels on the night shifts, a move the union says will significantly increase the number of days it takes to work vessels.

U.S. manufacturing growth slowed in December with continuing delays at West Coast ports being cited as a contributing factor, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

The Pacific Maritime Association launched a game of brinksmanship on New Year’s Eve, notifying the International Longshore and Warehouse Union at Los Angeles-Long Beach that beginning Friday, employers on night shifts will dispatch only one longshore crew to work each vessel, rather than three as has been the norm.

West Coast ports will enter the new year with the same congestion problems and labor uncertainty that plagued them for much of 2014.

The Harbor Trucking Association of Southern California called upon all supply chain participants to work together to make the newly-opened depot for empty equipment a success, or it will not fulfill its purpose of relieving congestion at marine terminals.

Brazil has appointed a new Minister for Ports, Edinho Araujo, in a move that is sowing dissatisfaction among the port community. He who will take over from outgoing minister Cesar Borges on Jan. 5.

Buenos Aires' newest container terminal opened for business this week, amid declining volumes at the port in Argentina's largest city.

The port of Antwerp boosted container traffic 4.5 percent in 2014 to just short of 9 million TEUs, marginally outpacing the 4.2 percent growth in total throughput to a new record high of 198.8 million metric tons.

The Port of Long Beach on Monday opened a depot where empty containers can be temporarily stored. The depot will ease space constraints at congested marine terminals while also freeing up chassis for use in the harbor area.

The gloves have come off. If there is one issue that the Pacific Maritime Association know will undercut any possible sympathy the International Longshore and Warehouse Union would hope to have from the public, it is how much they make.

The Ecoporto Santos container terminal in Brazil is moving ahead with an expensive equipment upgrade despite not being guaranteed an extension to the company’s port concession period. This comes as competition among the Santos terminals is heating up, with handling rates eroding in 2014.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union President Robert McEllrath has challenged ocean carrier executives to become directly involved in contract negotiations in order to end the impasse that has existed since the previous West Coast waterfront contract expired on July 1.

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.