Port News

DP World boosted third quarter container volume by nine percent from a year ago as it opened new terminals at London Gateway and in Brazil.

Cosco Pacific terminals handled almost 9 percent more containers in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, pushing net profit for the period up by 8 percent to $90 million.

The mainland taxman hit Hutchison Port Holdings Trust with a 131 percent tax increase in the third quarter, eroding the strong performance of terminals in Yantian and Hong Kong and pulling revenue for the period down by 9 percent.

Eleven container ships were anchored off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Sunday, the most waiting at one time in San Pedro Bay in two years, as gridlock persisted at the largest container gateway in the Americas.

North Carolina grain exporter C.A. Perry & Son has become the first shipper to use Quick180’s new "Plus" service to guarantee export loads to truckers dropping empty import boxes at the company's plants.

Malaysia’s biggest state pension fund is reportedly preparing a $2 billion bid for a stake in Associated British Ports, the UK’s largest port operator.

Video of veteran JOC West Coast Senior Editor Bill Mongelluzzo describing congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the many factors causing it.

Crippling congestion has spread from Manila to Batangas, one of the ports handling spillover cargo from Manila this year, leading Maersk line to tell customers on Friday that it will be limiting shipments to the port “to an absolute minimum.”

Importers and exporters can mitigate supply chain disruptions, such as the terrible congestion in Los Angeles-Long Beach, but their planning must begin months in advance, attendees at the JOC Inland Distribution Conference were told Friday.

Terminal congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was clearly on the minds of JOC.com readers again this week, with six of the Top 10 stories focusing on the issue.

Sensing an opportunity from the woes of Southern California, Oakland says it should be considered an attractive port for diversions from Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Kansas City Southern Railway is talking with ocean carriers and beneficial cargo owners about diverting shipments bound for the U.S. Gulf region away from congestion-wracked Los Angeles-Long Beach to the Port of Lazaro Cardenas in south-central Mexico.

While the Port of Tacoma reported year-over-year growth in container volumes in September, Seattle suffered another month of double-digit volume decline.

The Port of Tampa Bay is hoping the addition of two new post-Panamax cranes will usher in a "new era" for the port's container business.

Russia's ban on food imports from a number of Western countries has created new shipping opportunities; fruits and vegetables traditionally supplied by European producers are being replaced by suppliers from other countries.

Rotterdam’s container traffic increased 4.2 percent year-over-year in the first three quarters of 2014 as strong growth on deep-sea routes offset lower feeder shipments.

Some say the current gridlock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is on par with the most severe disruption the ports have seen in the past two decades, but Art Wong, spokesperson for the Port of Long Beach, told JOC.com today that the current congestion ― while serious ― is no where near that bad.

The massive congestion affecting the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is creating a fresh wave of diversions to other ports as shippers flee the worst congestion that the largest port complex in the Americas has seen in at least a decade.

Vessels are still backed up off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as gridlock at the Southern California ports continues.

Brazil’s presidential runoff betweenincumbent Dilma Rousseff and Aecio Neves has important implications for efforts to put the country’s ports and maritime industry.on a more solid footing.

Matson Inc.’s Matson Terminals subsidiary will plead guilty to two misdemeanor violations and pay a $1 million penalty to resolve all federal criminal charges arising from a September 2013 molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor.

Antwerp’s container traffic grew 5 percent year-over-year in the first three quarters of 2014, putting the Belgian port on track for a record total throughput in 2014.

Aided by a Pennsylvania incentive program, Mediterranean Shipping Co. will continue to operate a direct service between North Europe and Boston and Philadelphia alongside its forthcoming 2M Alliance with Maersk Line.

U.S. shippers, transportation groups and members of Congress. are intensifying pressure on Congressional appropriators to produce legislation that would send more money collected via the harbor maintenance tax back to ports as envisioned in landmark legislation signed earlier this year.

International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett called the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor an “evil empire,” and said the bistate crime watchdog agency should be abolished.

Dockworkers in Costa Rica walked off the job today, continuing a long battle over a proposed container terminal operated by APM Terminals with a strike.

DP World's newest Jebel Ali terminal received its first vessel call today, paving the way for the automated terminal to become fully operational next year.

Hamburg Süd said it has taken steps to combat significant delays in vessel arrivals and departures at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as severe congestion at the largest port complex in the Americas has reached a new level of intensity.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka assured footwear importers meeting in Long Beach Tuesday that the Southern California ports have proposals that could provide some immediate relief to the worsening congestion problem in the harbor.

A container terminal in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in eastern Canada is unlikely to be built because of poor rail connections and a slow recovery in container shipping, a prominent Canada shipping authority said this week.

Toy importers are feeling the impact of congestion and delays at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Guangdong Province in south China is working in several ways to improve its port competitiveness, by encouraging collaboration among Pearl River Delta container terminals, easing customs rules and establishing more robust rail and waterborne connections into the interior, said Liu Xiaohua, Vice Director, Guangdong Provincial Transportation Department.

In a reminder of the parking lot that the San Pedro Bay became during the 2002 lockout by the Pacific Maritime Association of ILWU workers, container ships are backed up once again off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach waiting for days for a berth as gridlock descends on the largest port complex in the Americas.

More than 100 national, state and local organizations have signed a letter urging a speedy agreement on a West Coast port labor contract “to allay growing concerns of thousands of businesses” that rely on the ports.

India will invest $85.21 million in the development and operation of cargo facilities at Iran’s Chabahar port, as New Delhi seeks to enhance its strategic interest in Central Asia.

The South Carolina Ports Authority today received the first ship call of a new consolidated South American east coast service that brings additional post-Panamax vessels to Charleston.

State and federal politicians are balking at the potential privatization of the Port of Boston’s busiest terminal, an option brought forth by the port authority as it continues to look for ways to erase a funding shortfall totaling $200 million.

The global shipping community is feeling the effects of Ebola in the form of vessel delays and schedule changes, along with potential quarantines and ship health screenings.