Port News

Brazil’s Congress has approved a port reform package, the Provisional Measure of the Ports, that will provide a new legal and institutional framework to increase the nation’s port system efficiency and reduce port-related logistics costs.

The Port of Long Beach’s board of harbor commissioners has appointed Al Moro, chief harbor engineer, as the California port’s interim executive director. His appointment will take effect following a formal vote on June 17.

Lenovo Group, a China-based PC maker, has celebrated the opening of its first U.S.-based manufacturing operation in North Carolina, ABC News reports.

Members of the Maritime Labor Alliance have unanimously appointed Don Marcus, president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, as president.

Cucumber exports from Mexico’s Yucatán state reached a record high this past season, according to Grup Marítim TCB.

Employment in transportation and warehousing climbed 1.4 percent in May, as the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

APM Terminals, which operates Pipavav port and a container terminal at Nhava Sheva port, has unveiled plans to expand its inland terminal services business in India.

The Port of Felixstowe has opened a new rail terminal, doubling rail capacity at the U.K. container port.

The Port of Los Angeles and the Hamburg Port Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to increase bilateral cooperation.

A strike earlier this week at the leading Indonesia gateway port of Tanjung Priok is continuing to cause truck bottlenecks, according to forwarders.

Container ship lines are supporting a state legislative effort to repeal a cargo facilities charge that carriers say is costing them millions of dollars a year at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Throughput at India’s Port of Mumbai fell 19 percent year-over-year in the first two months of fiscal year 2013-14, the port authority said in a statement this week.

Port Metro Vancouver in British Columbia handles $172 billion of cargo each year, or about $475 million every day, according to the port’s 2012 Economic Impact Study.

Maher Terminals will implement the final phase of its terminal operating system at the Port of New York and New Jersey this weekend (of June 8), and as a result, will be altering its schedule.

The New York Shipping Association and the International Longshoremen’s Association are in the early stages of implementing a new contract that targets high costs and low productivity at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Container throughput for Lithuania’s Klaipėda port totaled 33,030 20-foot-equivalent units in May, an increase of 5.8 percent, or 1,811 TEUs, compared with 31,219 TEUs in May 2012.

Four new super-post-Panamax, ship-to-shore cranes today arrived at Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal at the Port of Savannah.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union grain workers who have been locked out of the United Grain terminal in Vancouver, Wash., since Feb. 27 brought their fight north this week by gaining the support of ILWU Canada workers in Prince Rupert.

Belledune Port Authority in New Brunswick reported net income in fiscal year 2012 was C$2.37 million (about US$2.29 million), compared with $2.40 million in fiscal year 2011.

John Nardi was named president of the New York Shipping Association, succeeding Joseph C. Curto at the association that represents ocean carriers and marine terminal operators at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Contargo, a terminal operator and inland shipping services provider in the Rhine corridor, has affiliated its terminal network with the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands with InlandLinks.

The Panama Canal Authority has launched a trial period for its just-in-time service, which will allow vessels to arrive at the Panama Canal closer to their scheduled transit time.

The Port of Mundra received a call June 4 from the MSC Valeria, the largest container ship ever to call on an Indian port.

The Port of Los Angeles will develop an energy management action plan to improve and assess energy efficiency at the container port.

The British government’s Regional Growth Fund has assigned a grant of £35 million (about US$53.5 million) to dredge the approach channel in Mersey Estuary, which will improve access to Seaforth Dock...

The Port of Virginia plans to halt work for four hours June 12 for a meeting to allow employers to make their case for gradually reducing the size of some container-handling gangs in the local International Longshoremen’s Association contract.

Coos Bay Rail Link and the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay have entered into a 10-year agreement authorizing CBR to operate the 134-mile line.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has received an order to deliver two diesel electric Kalmar straddle carriers to Port Otago, a container handling operator in New Zealand.

Liebherr Container Cranes has received an order from Terminales Portuarios Euroandinos in Paita, Peru...

The Port of Jacksonville’s channel-deepening project will cost $733 million, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers analysis.

The Port of Klaipėda in Lithuania has completed the dredging of its channel after one year of work.

PSA International has acquired a stake in Fujian Jiangyin International Container Terminal (FJCT) in the Port of Fuzhou, China, becoming the second biggest shareholder in the terminal after Fuzhou Port Group.

Yang Ming is extending its lease at the Port of Los Angeles for an additional nine years.

Timetable for upcoming work on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.

Congressional reauthorization to start dredging may be waiting in the wings, but the Georgia Ports Authority isn’t waiting around for the $652 million in funding before beginning work on its long-delayed Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. Indeed, the GPA is pressing ahead with pre-engineering and preparations for environmental mitigation along the 29-mile length of the river channel leading to the Port of Savannah.