Port News

With China’s rejection of the P3 Network in mid-June, West Coast ports no longer have to fear that a single operational entity will gain huge leverage in negotiations over port calls and terminal charges.

Container volume through the Port of New York and New Jersey rose 3.7 percent year-over-year in May, as increases in import loads and empty export boxes offset a decline in export loads.

Contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association continued today, although reaching an agreement by the deadline of 5 p.m. on July 1 does not look likely.

Deutsche Bank AG is seeking potential buyers for all or part of Maher Terminals after writing down a large percentage of the $2.3 billion the German bank paid to buy the container terminal operator in 2007.

Criticism of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by an official of the International Association of Machinists provoked an angry response at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition conference in San Francisco at the weekend.

With the deadline for negotiating a West Coast dockworker contract at hand, the executive director of the Port of Oakland urged both sides to reach a successful conclusion for the good of all West Coast ports.

The major North European ports likely will face further congestion in the coming months as carrier alliances continue to have an impact on the reliability of service schedules, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

With a potential U.S. West Coast labor disruption just days away, truck traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is reportedly slow and congested, making it difficult for some shippers to get containers out of the port complex that handles 40 percent of U.S. trade.

Retailers are making new pleas for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association to agree on a contract and avoid a West Coast port shutdown after the ILWU-PMA contract expires next week.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission is looking whether a program designed to alleviate congestion by encouraging shippers to move cargo during nontraditional hours at Los Angeles-Long Beach isn’t delivering better service in exchange for higher fees.

Chiquita will remain a port tenant at Gulfport, Mississippi, for six more months before moving to New Orleans.

Ports in the Americas showed increased productivity in 2013 versus the previous year, which is good news for shippers as vessels worldwide grow increasingly larger. Our slideshow reviews the Top 6 ports in the western hemisphere in 2013.

The lifting of sanctions against Myanmar two years ago came at a time when garment makers in China were struggling with fast-rising labor costs and looking around Asia for alternative sourcing options.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has at last found its choice to head the port.

It’s too late for some retailers depending on shipments through West Coast ports. If they have no contingency plans for a potential strike or slowdown tied to International Longshore and Warehouse Union negotiations, they sit with fingers crossed.

The Panama Canal Authority is already thinking beyond the limits of the current expansion project.

Container movements to and from PSA Sical Terminals in India’s Port of Tuticorin have now returned to “near” normal levels.

China’s top 10 container ports handled almost 13 million TEUs in May, a growth of 2.4 percent over the same month last year, with the most impressive figures continuing to be generated by Ningbo-Zhoushan port.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued guidelines for ship and cargo contingency plans ahead of a possible West Coast trade disruption arising from the expiration of the longshore labor union contract.

West coast Canadian ports experienced double-digit year-over-year volume growth in May.

The North Carolina State Ports Authority has decided to pursue growth through public-private partnerships, calls by midsize container services and cultivation of specialty cargoes such as refrigerated products and bulk wood pellets.

HP now stacks up to 50 containers on a block train that travels from Chongqing to the German city of Duisburg, on a route known as the New Silk Way that was developed by Kazakhstan Railways.

An industry group seeking ways to improve performance of the Port of New York and New Jersey has issued 23 recommendations covering chassis, trucking, communication, performance indicators, and more.

The June 23 release of the JOC Group Inc. Port Productivity Data, which measures the number of container moves per-vessel, per-hour at the world’s ports and marine terminals in 2013, shows that many of the world’s ports and terminals improved their berth productivity last year.

International Longshoremen’s Association members at Charleston have authorized a strike, but the union has not attempted to halt work at the port.

A new terminal slated to open in the fourth quarter of 2014 could be a game-changer for Port Canaveral’s container shipping market.

Beneficial cargo owners choose to route their shipments via those ports with excellent infrastructure, multiple ocean shipping and inland transportation options and a productive workforce, but the game-breaker is reliability, according to a Kuehne + Nagel executive.

Even as it shot down an ambitious plan by Europe’s three largest ocean carriers to join forces, China was beefing up its bid to create a continental gateway to distribute its products across its largest export market.

APM Terminals has exercised an option for 22 automated rail-mounted gantry cranes for its new Rotterdam container terminal, which is scheduled to open in November.

The Port of Virginia has launched its Navis N4 terminal operating system at Norfolk International Terminals two weeks ahead of the scheduled July 4 start date.

Europe’s top container ports are grappling with an unprecedented coincidence of challenges that threatens to snap vulnerable sections of the continent’s overstretched supply chain.

Containerized imports through the West Coast increased sharply in May. But not all ports are sharing equally in the rally that began with the post-Chinese New Year winter peak.

Berth productivity per ship call at Asia’s efficient container terminals consistently outranks their U.S. and European counterparts, but a looming challenge is how to avoid lost time at berths as ships take up more space and remain in port longer.

Port productivity data from JOC Group Inc. for 2013 demonstrate that terminal operators around the world are taking quite seriously the challenge they face to service vessels in port as quickly and efficiently as possible in this era of mega-ships.

The South Carolina Ports Authority’s board of directors has approved a 2015 fiscal year plan that includes expectations of gains in container traffic.

Pan Mediterranean, an affiliate of the Chinese government’s China Harbour Engineering Company, has won a preliminary tender to build a new port on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, according to the Israeli business daily Globes.

The Port of Felixstowe has converted four diesel rubber-tire gantry cranes to electric to improve its operational and environmental efficiency.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission wants to ease congestion at ports and is considering hosting a forum for terminal operators and drayage drivers to discuss how to speed the movement of containerized goods at the gates.

Greece has received expressions of interest from eight companies bidding for a majority stake in the Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH), the operator of the country’s second largest seaport.