Port News

Despite an all-time record in container throughput last month in Norfolk, the Port of Virginia has maintained fluidity through terminals and ensured equipment is available to truckers.

Lifting the COVID-19 quarantine comes after industry stakeholders voiced concerns that the mandate was causing widespread sailing disruptions, combined with a knock-on effect on inventory flow.

A weekly service will carry 53-foot domestic intermodal containers between Tampa and Brownsville, Texas, for cross-border shipments between the United States and Mexico.

The planned New Orleans container terminal would handle rising container volumes, particularly Asian imports, and enable the port to make larger play for Midwest cargoes routed through the West Coast.

The truck driver turnover rate is rising at truckload carriers as they compete for employees; that is spurring a new round of pay hikes for drivers.

The import surge that hit Los Angeles-Long Beach this summer has arrived at major East Coast gateways, with a year-over-year increase in November imports from Asia of more than 30 percent.

Resin exports jumped 32 percent at the Port of Mobile during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period a year ago.

While cargo volumes at the main Indian terminals have rebounded markedly since the sharp setbacks earlier this year, current trends do not signal a “V-shaped” recovery that would warrant significant terminal capacity growth.

The real possibility that Asia imports will stay elevated through at least the first quarter, coupled with labor and trucking shortages, are creating a so-called perfect winter storm for more port congestion.

For DP World Cochin, which has been aggressively wooing mainline calls to bolster its sagging hub fortunes, ad-hoc calls resulting from the Colombo logjam have proved to be a tailwind in lifting business activity.

Volume in Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia is rising quickly, including an all-time container record in Savannah and Norfolk in November, due to continuing demand for furniture and appliances.

Container terminals in Los Angeles-Long Beach are overwhelmed by imports, resulting in almost week-long vessel dwell times and a pressing shortage of longshore labor, according to a terminal executive.

The Port of Virginia has gained a weekly service that will be the loop’s only US stop from Northern Europe and the port’s first-ever direct connection for exporters to the Caribbean.

A tighter focus on transportation and technology following a corporate split will improve the service and experience XPO offers to shippers globally, the company and transportation analysts say

The Port of Long Beach unveiled a cooperative plan with its terminal operators to improve port fluidity by prioritizing dual transactions for truckers.

A resurgence in the number of virus cases in Hong Kong and quarantine restrictions in China has led feeder operators reducing the number of ships and crews engaged in the trade.

Equipment providers open a near-dock site at Port of Los Angeles as a stop/start location for chassis in order to free up space at marine terminals and improve cargo velocity.

The agreement, lasting until 2025, cements Canadian Pacific’s contract with Hapag-Lloyd, its biggest container line customer and the largest carrier serving Canada, and rewards the railroad’s strategy to build a foothold in eastern Canada.

Port of Los Angeles executive director says greater trucker participation in the two-week-old Return Signal platform will help to mitigate the congestion problems caused by truckers’ difficulty in returning empty containers to the marine terminals.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex has experienced the greatest amount of congestion, owing to record imports from Asia that began over the summer when initial COVID-19-related lockdowns were eased.

A&R Logistics opened a resin packaging plant in Georgia last week more than a month ahead of schedule, and along with its new South Carolina facility will contribute a combined 100,000 TEU of new volume at the ports of Charleston and Savannah annually.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand in the United States and the Caribbean and Central America caused two-way trade between the regions to contract in the first nine months of 2020.

Besides the Colombo logjam and acute container shortages, last week’s cyclone-related disruptions at Chennai and other nearby ports dealt another blow to supply chains out of India’s east coast corridor.

Canadian Pacific has made no secret of its ambition to claw some of the container line volume away from its larger rival Canadian National Railway, with new initiatives at Saint John and Vancouver aimed at just that.

The leadership change at the Port of Montreal comes as the second-largest Canadian port moves forward on a new terminal after a month-long series of strikes in the summer.

The increase in one-way container moves means drivers spend more time waiting on line at different terminals, and running down the hours of service they can legally drive.

US retailers benefited from higher inventory levels during Q3; however, the outlook through the end of the year remains uncertain following slowing growth in October retail sales.

CMA CGM said its surcharge will apply to worldwide reefer shipments to Tianjin, including from the US, while MSC said its surcharge would be levied on reefer shipments from Europe.

Major and regional container carriers in recent years have added shuttle services on routes connecting ports in Mexico to the United States, particularly Tampa and Miami.

The intensity of Asia import flow is also shifting on the West Coast as volumes in October rose more sharply through the Northwest Seaport Alliance than though Southern California.

Higher pay is just a starting point for the solution to a resurgent driver shortage, J.B. Hunt’s Shelley Simpson tells the JOC Inland Distribution Webcast. Greater efficiencies, more shipper cooperation are key to improving driver jobs.

South Korean regulators held three meetings this week with shipping lines, cargo owners, and exporters to discuss cargo-related issues.

Pleas by truckers and shippers for carriers to work more closely with them to reduce congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach resonate with shipping executives.

Many of Cochin’s competitive disadvantages are rooted in the high level of port call charges that carriers face there, which DP World estimates are roughly 60 percent higher for mainline calls.

The NY-NJ rail increase is being felt most in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where APM Terminals and Maher Terminals operate facilities and where rail lifts are up 8.4 percent.

Ray-Mont Logistics on Wednesday will open a transload terminal at the Port of Seattle, providing customers with integrated logistics services at the facility.

A short-sea sailing on Oct. 20 marked the first cabotage shipment on the Montreal-Toronto route since the early 1980s, while DP World plans to expand its short-sea network in the greater Vancouver area.

Container throughput at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust grew for the first time in six months on a year-over-year basis in October, and volumes hit an all-time high at Mundra Port.

With the entire Southern California supply chain overwhelmed by imports, harbor truckers are asking ocean carriers to suspend detention and demurrage charges until the congestion problems are fixed.

Colombo commands the bulk of India’s transshipped volume, especially for trade in and out of the country’s east coast corridor.