Port News

The Port of Virginia has set a schedule for an appointment system aimed at improving truck turn times at Norfolk International Terminals.

A bitter dispute over hiring of International Longshoremen’s Association dockworkers at the Port of New York and New Jersey has flared up again.

The Port of Houston Authority has received a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers draft permit for deepening the port’s Bayport terminal channel, and it said it expects soon to receive a similar permit for its Barbours Cut terminal.

A Baltimore jury will hear dueling assault complaints stemming from a fight between two International Longshoremen’s Association officials whose local union is in a contract negotiations standoff with port employers.

The Port of Oakland has come a long way from last summer, when harbor truckers disrupted the port through sporadic work stoppages protesting new clean-truck rules. But based on recent comments from truckers it still has plenty of work to do to improve turn times in the harbor.

Gujarat Pipavav Port, an APM Terminals facility on India’s west coast, has scaled back its capacity expansion program for fiscal year 2014-15 in the wake of weakening trade demand.

The ports of Seattle and Tacoma offer advantages to shipping lines that many ports would love to have — naturally deep water, more than enough container-handling space and excellent on and near-dock intermodal rail infrastructure. But in order to take full advantage, the ports are faced with a stark reality: they must invest heavily to upgrade facilities that were designed for vessels that are half the size of the ships with capacities of 8,000 to 10,000 20-foot container units that carriers are already beginning to deploy in their Pacific Northwest services.

Container volumes in Los Angeles-Long Beach surged in March as factories in Asia returned to full production after the Chinese New Year lull in February, with double-digit growth in LA offsetting sagging traffic at its neighbor.

The Puget Sound ports of Seattle and Tacoma face battles on multiple fronts.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said APM Terminals wants to sell the semi-automated container terminal it now leases to the Virginia Port Authority.

Container traffic in Rotterdam inched up just 0.3 percent in the first quarter, as Europe’s biggest container hub confronted continuing overcapacity in the Le Havre-to-Hamburg port range and changes in the container shipping sector.

The rise in labor costs in China and other countries has led to the inclusion of more countries in the global supply chain, but a Standard Chartered report argues that the pace of manufacturing’s migration to lower-cost countries will be slow, especially for higher-value goods.

The Virginia Port Authority’s board underwent its second shakeup in less than three years today when Gov. Terry McAuliffe replaced five of the board’s 11 appointed members, saying he wanted to reverse the port’s financial losses.

The Port of Jacksonville is poised to get the congressional go-ahead to deepen its harbor in order to handle larger container ships, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a needed report.

The clock on Rich Ceci’s desk reads 00:00, and the project manager of Global Terminal’s expansion said it signifies a milestone met.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Kobe in western Japan fell for the second year in a row in 2013, according to figures released by the Kobe municipal government.

The competitive advantage of ports will be their ability to improve productivity and service levels as larger vessels call more often and increase container handling volume per port visit, according to Mika Mahlberg, vice president of Konecranes’ port cranes business unit.

Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) said port operators, contractors and workers — who have reached a settlement in wage negotiations that will give dockworkers a potential increase of 10.1 percent — were “all in the same boat” and would have to work together if the port was to remain competitive.

In the brutal war for cargo that is underway in today’s world of powerful shipping alliances, the last thing the Southern California ports want to do is subsidize competitors by helping them pay to deepen their ports, the president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission said yesterday.

JUAREZ, Mexico — Each Christmas ornament or mannequin that is shipped from here to major U.S. retailers is a sign of Mexico’s growing competitive edge with China.

Pacific Maritime Association President Jim McKenna said today the U.S. West Coast employers’ organization will begin contract negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on May 12, an announcement that should silence calls from retailers urging an early start to negotiations.

The National Retail Federation urged the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its West Coast employers to start contract negotiations immediately and to keep bargaining even if they don’t reach a deal before the current agreement expires June 30.

A group representing cruise operators, stevedores and the International Longshoremen’s Association bought full-page newspaper advertisements to criticize soccer star David Beckham’s proposal to build a 25,000-seat stadium at the Port of Miami.

The neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will step up their collaboration if necessary to increase market share in a new era of powerful carrier alliances, but a merger of the two ports does not appear likely.

Philippine terminal operators believe calls to transfer container-handling operations away from Manila as part of the solution to ease chronic traffic congestion in the city are unrealistic.

With productivity a growing battleground among container terminals, Singapore is making a high-profile research investment to ensure its port, the world’s second busiest, remains competitive.

The Hong Kong port faces challenges on several fronts.

A standoff continues between Baltimore port employers and the International Longshoremen’s Association over a local contract covering non-containerized breakbulk and automobile shipments.

The International Labor Organization voted to support amending an international labor convention by requiring shipowners to provide financial security to compensate seafarers abandoned at ports away from their native countries.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Osaka in western Japan rose to a new record high in 2013, according to preliminary figures from the Osaka municipal government.

U.S. shippers in the coming weeks will engage in a full-court press on Capitol Hill and at the White House to voice the importance of preventing labor disruption at West Coast ports as the expiration of the current coastwise longshore agreement approaches.

The Los Angeles 2020 Commission today urged the rival ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to merge...

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said the state port authority’s operating losses must end, and that he plans “some very substantial changes” to the port board and wants to renegotiate its 20-year lease of APM Terminals’ Portsmouth facility.

Contracted dockworkers at Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung Container Terminals have been told they will receive a 12 percent pay increase, but after last year’s successful strike...

European ports will struggle to handle the revamped services due to be launched by the P3 and G6 carrier alliances due to their weak intermodal transport links, according to Drewry Maritime Research.

Manila’s heavy vehicle access restrictions, imposed in February to help ease the city’s notorious gridlock, are frustrating the Philippine shipping and logistics industry.

Signaling an end to the winter doldrums and the beginning of a busy spring in the U.S. container trades, Global Port Tracker is forecasting that imports in April will increase 6.1 percent over April 2013.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handled 40.9 percent of all U.S. containerized imports in 2013, and 25.5 percent of U.S. exports.

A consortium of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and Kamigumi Co. has acquired a 25 percent stake in Spanish container terminal operator TCV Stevedoring Company S.A. (TCV), Mitsubishi said today.