Port News

US retailers are forecasting near-record imports through the peak shipping season as back-to-school goods that have already begun landing are followed quickly by holiday season merchandise.

Canada’s Class I railroads have been dealing with a surge of freight from Vancouver that has taxed a shrinking pool of available truckers across the country in Ontario.

A new working arrangement that for the first time allows pilots from Hong Kong and Shenzhen to navigate in each other’s waters aims to mitigate delays stemming in part from a pilot shortage in Yantian.

The Port of Houston’s two container terminals will be open on Saturdays through at least the rest of 2022 as an import wave continues to tie up capacity at the gateway.

The second service to call on Charleston’s year-old Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal arrived last weekend amid an ongoing labor dispute that has other carriers steering clear.

The Port of Baltimore will receive almost $16 million in additional federal funds that will complete on-dock rail improvements needed as part of the project to raise the Howard Street Tunnel for double-stack service.

Contract negotiations between the ILWU and West Coast marine terminal employers started up again on Wednesday after an unexpected halt in late May.

A backlog of vessels is building off Savannah, but the Georgia Ports Authority says it’s in a better position to handle the heavy volumes now than it was when delays hit last fall.

Customs software provider KlearNow has added a drayage service to its product in order to sync cargo availability to capacity from its network of dray providers.

A new report on marine terminal automation found that while reducing labor costs is a major driver, multiple benefits throughout the operation must be considered in order to justify the large capital expenditure involved.

Government investments are expected to triple capacity at Port Saint John amid accelerated growth brought on by partnerships with Canada Pacific, DP World, and more.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is looking for additional land well ahead of dredging that would bring larger ships and double the freight coming into the busiest US East Coast port over the coming two decades.

Drayage operators at California ports are concerned that the final phase of the state’s clean-truck regulations that take effect on Jan. 1 will take a sizable bite out of truck capacity shortage in the harbors.

West Coast port officials say excessive rail container dwell times due to insufficient rail assets and capacity threaten the gains ports are making in clearing vessel backlogs and lowering truck turn times.

Four of the top five ports in the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) rankings for 2021 were in the Middle East, as widespread disruption challenged productivity at major gateways in North America, Asia, and Europe.

Messaging from employers and longshore unions indicates that the contentious issue of automation is coloring recently suspended contract talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association.

Shanghai’s lockdown has continued this month, although carriers such as Maersk and CMA CGM said regional logistics and supply chains are gradually improving.

Drayage technology rollup Envase has added GeoStamp, a GPS-based port and drayage visibility and analytics provider, to its roster of tools for port carriers and intermodal providers.

Powering its ships with green methanol will come with a significant increase in fuel costs for Maersk, but the carbon-free fuel offers greater scalability than other options.

The Jacksonville Port Authority plans to meet next month with a regional electric utility on how power lines that impose a draft restriction on ships can be raised.

Technology provider Draying.io wants to use its experience in developing a transportation management tool for carriers to help shippers automate the sourcing and pricing of port moves.

Coastwide contract negotiations between the ILWU and West Coast waterfront employers have been put on hold, although individual committee meetings on specific issues such as worker safety will continue.

The ILWU wants to temporarily suspend contract talks with West Coast waterfront employers, according to sources, with one saying little progress has been made since negotiations began May 10.

The Port of Mobile said a new weekly service to and from Guatemala and Honduras will allow shippers to tap the growing trade between the US and Central America.

COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai may not result in a sudden flood of volumes to the US, but the GPA says additional storage capacity at Savannah’s Garden City Terminal and pop-up storage sites will allow it to handle any unexpected spikes.

It was a positive start to the year for the port of Hamburg as Baltic volume shifting from Russia and a rise in China cargo pushed up first quarter throughput.

Amid supply chain gridlock throughout the US, the Port of Houston has signed an agreement to investigate the potential use of an electric rail shuttle system for inland container movement.

New data suggests fears of renewed and widespread port congestion in the US this summer are valid, particularly if growing imports collide with the start of peak shipping season and the return of normal cargo flow from post-lockdown Shanghai.

Container terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert are operating at full capacity, meaning they are unable to handle any cargo diversions from US West Coast ports if longshore contract negotiations head south.

ILA leadership is expressing solidarity with the ILWU as it begins contract talks with West Coast terminal employers, while warning against further automation at US ports.

Port truckers who left to start their own companies in Savannah last fall are re-engaging with former employers as they struggle to find loads to haul amid the recent decline in dray rates.

The Montreal Port Authority is moving again to choose the group that will build and operate the proposed Contrecoeur container terminal, a project that would significantly boost the port's capacity.

The new director of the Port of New York and New Jersey said Shanghai’s COVID-19 lockdown is not causing any slowdown at the port because of an increasing number of containers from South Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

A work stoppage this week at Colombo in Sri Lanka was just the latest blow to operations at the key transshipment hub, with the ripple effects being felt at other ports in the region.

Rotterdam believes the gradual reopening of factories in China’s locked-down manufacturing areas will release slow and steady volumes into the ocean supply chain rather than unleashing a huge wave of cargo.

A Port of Rotterdam initiative has identified a way to make green hydrogen available at scale for European industry and inland transport providers in a move designed to help meet regional zero-carbon targets.

Sources interpreted the release of PMA’s port automation study as the group anticipating the potential for debate on the hot-button issue to gain widespread attention in the public domain during upcoming West Coast labor talks.

Only four of the JOC Top 25 North American Container Ports handled fewer imports in 2021, but growth at major West Coast gateways lagged that of their East Coast competitors, resulting in a shift in market share.

The head of the Pacific Maritime Association said he is optimistic about a smooth outcome for upcoming contract negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, though he defended automation as a key tool to grow terminal volumes.

Ocean forwarder UWL has introduced a new bi-weekly service from Vietnam into the US Pacific Northwest as shippers seek out additional vessel capacity to tap a growing source of imports.