Port News

India’s transshipment business is showing signs of growth, thanks to the country’s recent cabotage liberalization.

Weston LaBar, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, said turn times in Los Angeles-Long Beach have improved noticeably this year due to collaboration among truckers and marine terminal operators.

A growing number of truck and terminal operators in the Port of New York and New Jersey are looking to acquire electric vehicles -- including yard tractors and drayage trucks -- to help the port meet it mission to cut emissions.

Cargo volumes at the busiest container gateways in China continued to grow in the first nine months of 2019, but at a slower rate than last year due in large part to a cooling European economy the country’s ongoing trade war with the United States.

The legal effort by New Jersey’s governor and legislators to enact a new law that would transfer to the state police many of the investigatory and watchdog powers of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor has garnered support from the New York Shipping Association.

The third blockage this year of the main rail line into the Mexican Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, which is operated by Kansas City Southern of Mexico (KCSM) will likely add to shipper fears that moving cargo by rail is unreliable.

Sam Ruda, ports director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, says he's made restoring a healthy dialogue between PANYNJ and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) a top priority since being named to the post in April.

Mexican auto production, domestic vehicle sales, and imports of autos through the country’s ports have all fallen this year, and IHS Markit predicts sales and production will be flat next year, likely limiting growth in auto-related supply chains.

Maher Terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey has cut the time taken to scan an import container for radioactivity, improving the fluidity of cargo heading out of the port by rail.

India’s port development efforts include reinvigorating dozens of minor coastal harbors in order to enhance their freight handling capability.

The South Carolina Ports Authority outlined a vision of expanding capacity at the Wando Welch Terminal and a new Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal to handle the next generation of containerships.

Slowing economies at both ends of the Asia-Europe trade have had little effect on the container volume being handled by the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp.

Dockworkers involved in contract negotiations at the Port of Montreal received support this week from an international union that attended a hearing on whether the ports are so important to public health and safety that they can’t be subject to a strike or a lockout.

The amount of time container ships spend at port continued to rise in the first half of 2019, despite relative gains in terminal efficiency, according to an analysis of JOC.com port productivity data.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says its hands-on approach in helping APM Terminals resolve issues that led to congestion and high dwell times late last year after a surge in cargo is part of a continuing strategy to improve the port’s competitive edge.

Faced with massive truck congestion daily, officials at Bangladesh’s main port are studying the feasibility of building an automated overhead conveyor system to move containers more efficiently.

PMSA President John McLaurin says the high costs and environmental rules at California ports have chased freight away, but acknowledges other factors such as the four-corner strategy of national retailers and costly intermodal rail rates have contributed to eroding market share.

APM’s terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey, which is undergoing a major upgrade, will be led by an executive with shipping, intermodal and chassis experience, starting Nov. 1.

Mexico’s fourth-largest port by volume is bucking the trend of slower cargo growth by posting solid gains in volume this year that far outpace the rise in cargo through all Mexican ports combined.

West Coast port managers say sharing cargo information through digital portals and disseminating information on truck turn times is motivating marine terminals to improve performance, but brokers and forwarders remain skeptical.

The first step in dredging the harbor in Norfolk will begin in January 2020, kickstarting a project that will make the Port of Virginia the deepest harbor on the East Coast.

Bangladeshi shippers are relieved after the local customs agent that handles Cosco Shipping’s business in the country had its license reinstated.

A California Court of Appeals has ruled that the “ABC” test can be applied retroactively, a decision that means truck drivers can calculate damages for past misclassification.

Five years of trucker-terminal collaboration in Los Angeles-Long Beach pays off with the best truck turn time performance since January 2014.

A California-based digital freight marketplace sets a five-year goal to replace its asset-based diesel fleet with alternative power.

DP World Nhava Sheva, which has two terminals at India’s JNPT, has set up a “paperless system” for the clearance of import cargo in an effort to further reduce truck wait times and accelerate cargo flow.

The Port of Mobile has lowered trucking turn times despite pressure from rising cargo volumes by adding exit gates and expanding gate hours.

Truck owners agreed to resume freight hauling after a meeting with JNPT port leaders and local traffic regulatory officials in which authorities promised to more expeditiously resolve the truckers’ concerns regarding road infrastructure and new regulatory measures.

A trucker protest at India’s JNPT has cut into cargo lifts for vessels at berth or waiting in line to call at the country’s busiest port for container shipping.

Truckers in the Port of New York and New Jersey say extra trips required by ocean carriers to deliver empty containers are consuming their driver time and hurting productivity.

The Port of New Orleans says the integration of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad into the port provides shippers with a one-stop solution that can offer a more fluid way to move their cargo.

Indian port stakeholders agree that pricing changes are needed if key domestic ports want to become competitive against foreign counterparts.

Vessels of up to 14,000 TEU could be calling at the Port of Mobile by 2024 if a $400 million dredging project approved three weeks ago by the US Army Corps of Engineers goes according to plan.

Advances in the development of zero-emission cargo handling equipment has a port official “cautiously optimistic” Los Angeles and Long Beach will meet the clean-air goal of commercially-available zero-emission CHE by 2030.

The state of Florida has appropriated $35.3 million dollars to deepen the Jacksonville Harbor to 47 feet along a 11-mile stretch to the Blount Island terminal by 2023.

The Dubai-based global port terminal operator is looking to position an existing inland freight terminal in Hyderabad as a regional multimodal distribution hub as part of a larger effort to offer integrated logistics services in India.

Falling behind on connectivity for import/export cargo can easily trigger the negative feedback loop, eventually leading to elimination of the regular liner services.

Fierce competition for warehouse space in and around New York and a lack of land on which to build has prompted developers to construct multi-level warehouses to meet the industrial space demands of logistics companies, shippers, and e-commerce business.

Admitting that LA-LB ports charge a premium for their services, port directors are concentrating on improved cargo velocity through information sharing and infrastructure enhancements to stop the bleeding of discretionary cargo to other North American ports.

The Port of Houston is looking for industry and public support as it tries to accelerate the pace of a project to widen the Houston Ship Channel amid growing cargo volumes.