Port News

A union-sponsored report on automation in Vancouver and Prince Rupert cites the potential reduction of 50-90 percent in longshore jobs as terminal operators seek to reduce operational costs, especially labor.

Vessel movements have been halted in the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on the approach of Hurricane Dorian, which is expected to strengthen and target Florida’s east coast early next week.

Ireland’s second-largest port has boosted its customs facilities ahead of the turbulence expected from what is looking increasingly like a no-deal Brexit by the United Kingdom from the EU.

In order to prevent further loss of market share, Los Angeles and Long Beach are seeking approval from their harbor commissions to collaborate on supply chain optimization initiatives.

The group that represents India’s privately owned ports and terminals wants to ensure that revenues are distributed properly under a new pricing model in the final stages of implementation by the government.

JOC Associate Editor Ari Ashe explains why chassis shortages are such a problem in the international transportation space and why finding a solution is so difficult.

The Port of Virginia will shift more vessel calls to the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) terminal so shippers using rail can receive their cargo faster.

The five terminals that comprise the New York Terminal Conference in the Port of New York and New Jersey will increase demurrage fees in October as part of their annual fee revision process.

The slowdown reflects easing global economic growth and retaliatory tariffs with the United States.

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded two contracts this week for the final steps to complete the harbor deepening in Savannah and Charleston.

The strong quarter for Maersk will strengthen its resolve in making what amounts to an existential bet that the integrator path is the best response to the commodification of ocean shipping.

Acquisitive-minded Adani Group is pursuing a deal that would give it a 72 percent stake of India's Krishnapatnam port.

The container terminal at the Port of Progreso, in the south of Mexico, will undergo an upgrade by operator APM Terminals Yucatan as the federal government also targets the port for enhancement in a plan to create a software, electronics and automobile development zone nearby.

The 2019 JOC Directory of Trucking Companies is a one-stop source of information for North American shippers and third-party logistics providers on nearly 180 select trucking companies in the United States and Canada.

Terminal operators say an increase in truck turn times in Los Angeles and Long Beach last month does not signal a return to the congestion experienced during the 2018 peak season.

India is investing $500 million in Iran’s Chabahar port, but a lack of demand has forced the Indian government to consider offering tariff discounts at Indian ports for carriers en route to Chabahar.

The Wednesday announcement by the Canada Infrastructure Bank solidifies the development of the project and promises funding, as an acceleration of container volume growth within the last three years pushes the Port of Montreal toward full capacity.

The port of Savannah’s intermodal terminal expansion project is about 40 percent complete as rail volumes set a new record in July.

The investment adds momentum to the port’s efforts to improve truck fluidity following high single-digit growth last year that has since moderated to mid- single-digit gains.

Indian shipowners want the government to review the country’s revised cabotage laws, saying the new policy hurts Indian tonnage growth.

Three of the busiest container ports worldwide — Singapore, Busan, and Hong Kong — are all heavily reliant on transshipment, while another primarily transshipment-oriented port, Colombo, saw the third-fastest growth in 2018 of any port in the JOC Top 50.

Asian gateways continued to dominate the global port market in 2018, handling more than three-quarters of the total throughput of the top 50 container ports worldwide.

The first use of an electric drayage truck in the Port of New York and New Jersey adds to the portfolio of initiatives in use by the port in a bid to reduce truck pollution without hurting port efficiency.

With Rio de Janeiro’s Libra Terminal now in its stable of holdings, new owner International Container Terminal Services will look to boost the facility’s volumes amid competition from two rivals.

Ports that invest in connectivity, such as Shanghai, the best-connected port in the world, are growing the fastest and contributing significant economic benefits to their regions, according to UNCTAD report.

The latest upgrade work at the port of Houston’s Barbours Cut Terminal that will enable the facility to handle rapidly growing cargo volumes received the backing of Port of Houston Authority, which agreed to spend $39.7 million on the project.

A new free trade zone created in the metropolitan area of Montreal will make it easier for manufacturers, producers, and wholesalers to make and store goods without paying taxes or excise duties on products that will eventually leave the country.

Waterfront employers and ILWU Canada say their new contract will enable Vancouver and Prince Rupert to grow through automation while ensuring dockworkers are properly trained for new job opportunities.

Los Angeles and Long Beach are still promoting portwide acceptance of off-dock chassis storage yards despite concerns about ILWU extending its reach in the harbor.

A plan in the early stages of development in Mexico would create a cabotage program that would offer an alternative to moving cargo inside the country by truck, while boosting the country’s ports.

Shawn Tibbetts, who joined the Port of Virginia in 2003 and oversaw the implementation of a truck appointment system at the Virginia International Gateway and the rollout of Navis N4 at VIG this year, is leaving the port later this month to join a real estate investment trust.

Recent modernization moves are paying off for India’s BMCT, which set a productivity record for the terminal in late July. Photo credit: PSA India.

Europe’s main waterways are again heading for the low levels that had such a brutal impact on inland cargo flows late last year.

A new round of bad weather has exacerbated recent congestion at the Bangladeshi port of Chittagong, with berthing delays averaging about eight days.

Terminal operators at Mexican ports say they need to work more closely with rails and truckers, and have better coordination with cargo owners to reduce shipping delays.

A new agreement on handling rail operations at India’s busiest port is expected to put an end to infighting that existed among the port’s terminal operators.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New York City officials are engaged in an ongoing effort to increase the use of barges.

If truckers in Los Angeles-Long Beach improve on the current performance of more than one-third of the available appointment slots being unused each week, there would be sufficient capacity to handle all truck move and congestion would diminish, according to a PierPass study

The lead investor in a container support facility in Los Angeles criticized the port for what he termed giving in to political and ILWU pressure by declaring a key efficiency initiative known as the Harbor Performance Enhancement Center to be “infeasible.”

Cargo is growing again at GCT New York, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sees the terminal’s unused capacity as ripe for development to meet the port’s future needs.