Port News

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s two-year battle with grain terminals over a new contract in the Pacific Northwest highlights the major differences between contract negotiations in the bulk cargo sector and negotiations in the container shipping industry.

Due to lower trade volumes to and from emerging markets in Asia, ports around the world overall saw weak performance in the second quarter of 2014, according to the Shanghai International Shipping Institute.

A pending free trade agreement involving the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries could jeopardize mainland China’s dominance in producing apparel for U.S. consumers.

Tracy Egoscue, an environmental attorney and former California deputy attorney general, was named to fill a vacant seat on the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners.

U.S. marine container chassis lessor Direct ChassisLink Inc. plans to expand into ownership, management and leasing of 53-foot domestic equipment, and says newly acquired equipment and technology provider REZ-1 will play a key role.

It’s been a good year for the Port of Jacksonville — even if the Northeast Florida port’s total container volume growth has been lackluster.

Truckers in Los Angeles-Long Beach have complained for years that turn times are lousy — oftentimes two hours or longer. Marine terminal operators are adamant that the average turn time is less than one hour. Transportation consultant Val Noronha says both claims are accurate; it’s the measurement that’s flawed.

Grup TCB has broken ground on a container terminal yard extension at Guatemala’s port of Quetzal that will help the terminal operator get ready for the extra traffic that is expected from the opening of the expanded Panama Canal.

From the top to the bottom, here is a list of the ports that moved up in 2013, and those that are in danger of falling down — or even off — the list of the Top 50 World Container Ports.

Total container traffic at U.S. West Coast ports declined 2 percent in July compared with the same month last year, confirming the predictions that importers and exporters would divert some of their cargo to Canadian and U.S. East Coast ports due to longshore contract negotiations on the West Coast.

Although delays are starting to ease at the Port of Rotterdam, schedule reliability to the Dutch port plummeted this summer.

The Brazilian Association of Port Terminals has launched a campaign to try and keep politics out of the Brazilian port sector.

Dredging to restore the ship channel at the Port of Gulfport, Mississippi, to its authorized 36-foot depth has begun after years of delays.

The surging number of ultra large container ships has failed to create a European mega-hub with ocean carriers still operating multi-port rotations, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Maersk Line and CMA CGM have levied congestion surcharges cargo discharged at the port of Sohar in Oman as the relocation of all commercial traffic from Muscat to Sohar leads to berthing delays.

The 13 ports owned by the national government in India are “wilting under the onslaught of competition from new private ports,” being way behind in areas like dredging and losing substantial market share over the past 20 years, according to LiveMint, a financial news service.

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with grain handlers in the Pacific Northwest, ending a two-year battle between the two parties.

The Clementine Maersk will skip the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, in its current rotation, citing congestion and “significant” delays following the CMA CGM Attila’s striking of the dock two days ago. The Maersk Line vessel will shift cargo bound for the Canadian gateway to the CMA CGM La Scala.

The 132 transportation and logistics companies that made the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies this year prove that size and speed aren’t always twinned.

Growing global demand for bourbon, a solely U.S. produced liquor, is giving U.S. East Coast ports a sweet, down-home surge in containerized cargo.

Despite the lack of a new West Coast labor contract two months after the expiration of the last agreement, the threat of work stoppages to peak-season merchandise is rapidly receding, according to a retail industry consultant.

The Port of Long Beach has resumed full cargo-handling operations after storm surges from Tropical Storm Marie subsided.

Expansion of Duisburg’s container terminals has entered a new stage, taking the large German inland river port one step closer to meeting increased demand and additional rail traffic.

Intermodal chassis provider Direct ChassisLink Inc. has acquired REZ-1, which for 20 years has supplied technology for intermodal equipment management and service.

A federal judge has dismissed an employer-union lawsuit challenging the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor’s new rules for hiring dockworkers in the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Thirty million times since 2005 a truck entered or left a Los Angeles-Long Beach marine terminal during off-peak hours, relieving daytime congestion around the largest U.S. port complex, thanks to the Offpeak program run by PierPass.

New capacity and a pickup in global trade drove strong profitability at DP World in the first half of 2014, leaving the global terminal operator with a positive outlook for full-year 2014.

China Merchants Holdings (International) is the second state-owned terminal operator to post positive first half results with total container throughput rising by 18 percent to 38.5 million TEUs, consolidating its position at the top of the mainland’s port operator table.

Two cargo terminals at the Port of Long Beach suspended vessel operations because of storm surges.

Officials at the Port of Hueneme hope that a new funding bill will help them become more competitive in years to come.

The Port of Seattle Commission has selected manufacturing and transportation veteran Ted J. Fick as its next CEO.

U.S. grain shippers are welcoming the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s collective bargaining agreement with Pacific Northwest grain handlers, but they are still concerned about poor rail service that is hampering their ability to get exports to Asia.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating a $25 million settlement by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with American Stevedoring Inc., the Bergen Record newspaper reported.

The agreement reached late Tuesday pertaining to health care was the latest and clearest indication that the 2014 West Coast longshore labor negotiations are playing out in a way no one expected: They are peaceful.

The peak season is looming over the congested port of Manila as it continues battling to clear cargo and empties before a wave of Christmas container volumes starts arriving in the next two weeks.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association released a joint statement on Tuesday saying they have come together on at least one topic, and a highly contentious one at that: health benefits.

German terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) has unveiled a new berth capable of handling the largest container ships at its Container Terminal Burchardkai at the Port of Hamburg.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with grain handlers in the Pacific Northwest, spelling the end to an embittered, two-year battle between the two parties and allowing the union to focus on still-unresolved coastwide container talks.

U.S. shippers are finding that hedging their bets against possible U.S. West Coast port disruptions by shipping cargo through the Port of Prince Rupert comes with a catch: long delays before imports can be loaded onto the rails.