Port News

A desire by the Chinese government to stop wasteful duplication of resources is one factor behind a move to restructure three gateway ports in southern mainland China and Hong Kong.

The terminal operator’s acquisition of a majority stake in three large inland logistics centers in North India builds on services offered via Indian intermodal subsidiary Container Rail Road Services (CRRS).

ILWU Canada has scaled down its threatened strike at Deltaport and Vanterm terminals in Vancouver to just a refusal to work overtime at those facilities.

A work stoppage at the two largest container terminals in Vancouver would be devastating for a port whose facilities are already operating at 85 percent utilization. In the terminal operating industry, 80 percent utilization is considered the limit before service begins to decline.

A $1.9 billion tender to redevelop Argentina’s Puerto Nuevo has shippers and carriers worrying about potentially higher costs.

A proposal from the City of Newark would see dozens of underused and vacant land plots near the Port of New York and New Jersey redeveloped to create port-related warehousing and logistics facilities.

The Port of Antwerp is expanding its program of extended terminal gates and launching a six-month test of 24-hour gates at two terminals as cargo volumes at the port continue to grow.

The Port of Houston is using soon-to-be-signed legislation limiting vessel sizes on its ship channel as motivation to expedite a widening project that will enable 13,000-TEU ships to access the port in four to five years.

Container carriers have been altering stowage plans for neo-Panamax ships to mitigate the current draft limits, according to the Panama Canal Authority.

India and Afghanistan are considering offering concessions on transport costs to reinvigorate containerized trade between the two countries via Iran’s Chabahar port.

Texas lawmakers have backed legislation that limit vessels in the channel that leads to the Port of Houston to 1,100 feet, unless port pilots say that such a mega-vessel can safely and efficiently move up the channel in two way traffic.

Port proponents worry newly threatened tariffs from the Trump administration on ship-to-shore cranes and containers will dampen investment and productivity, as the recent escalation of tariffs pushes up chassis production costs.

Trucking companies, government agencies, and unions in Vancouver responding to commissioner’s plan for wage hike and rule changes with goal of meeting July 1 implementation deadline and heading off possible labor action.

JNPT and Customs officials will jointly hold a meeting with all stakeholders on May 21 to deliberate actions necessary to settle the intra-port logistics problem, industry officials told JOC.com.

Drayage truckers in the Port of New York and New Jersey fear that a proposal to ban trucks with engines aged 1996 and older would make the port uncompetitive.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka tells JOC.com a port-wide trucker appointment system and off-dock chassis storage must be implemented now if the nation's largest port complex is going to avoid terminal congestion and equipment dislocations in the upcoming peak season.

Port of Mobile CEO Jimmy Lyons is optimistic about the Alabama port’s future, but he adamantly opposes the restrictions brought on by US trade disputes.

At the center of the issue has been an additional fee other terminals operated by DP World and APM Terminals sought to apply on BMCT-meant export-import containers handled via mixed trains connecting at their rail yards.

A fatal incident shut down the Fenix Marine Services (APL) terminal in the Port of Los Angeles Wednesday.

Prince Rupert master plan released this week cites key projects that will come online by mid- to late 2020s and assure Canada's Pacific Coast gateways of Prince Rupert and Vancouver can accommodate growth in trans-Pacific cargo into the 2030s.

The North Carolina Ports Authority is taking strides to be able to handle larger containerships while also developing quicker CSX service with its intermodal terminal in Charlotte to capture more business now sent to competitors.

Officials at the Port of New York and New Jersey say that although the steady increase in vessel sizes and discharge volumes at the port means that 20 percent of all containers are moved on ships of 13,000 TEU or more, the terminals have been able to handle the cargo smoothly.

Software issues that marred the initial deployment of India’s redesigned port community system have been resolved, but broader stakeholder concerns over data security remain.

The acquisition of two Canadian ports by global terminal operators offers them the chance to apply the resources and relationships built up around the world in service of boosting their cargo volumes in Canada.

ILWU Canada voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if necessary, but the union and employers have agreed to continuing bargaining until at least the end of May in contract negotiations that have been under way since February 2018.

Terminal operator GCT Global's $160 million investment in the Vanterm facility is part of a larger effort to keep up with growing demand at the port of Vancouver, which officials expect to reach full utilization within 10 years.

The purchase of Fraser Surrey Docks will increase the Dubai-based terminal operator's footprint on the Pacific coast of Canada, although the river port has limited potential for container cargo growth.

The Port of New York and New Jersey and other ports along the Gulf and East coasts are looking at how to reduce the cost and productivity loss that occurs when longshoremen hired for the weekend are unable to work due to vessel delays.

The first Central American vessel as part of two vessel strings from Seaboard Marine to the US East coast visited Savannah this week, a growing trade lane that has generated a 70 percent increase in imports in Georgia since 2014.

According to the NRF's monthly Global Port Tracker report, major US container ports will see "unusually high levels" of retail imports through the first half of the year despite Trump administration threats to raise tariffs on Chinese-made goods.

Coastal transshipment at Indian ports has grown considerably since the relaxation of cabotage rules, but detractors argue that privately operated minor ports have reaped more of the benefits than their publicly run counterparts.

Longshore workers in Canada are turning up the heat on the employers’ association in Vancouver as negotiations that began in February 2018 still have not replaced the contract that expired more than a year ago.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced the sixth reduction in its maximum draft this year for the Neopanamax locks on Gatun Lake as water levels continue to fall.

Shippers that import and export goods through the Port of Houston are being urged to contact legislators and express opposition to two bills that would limit mega-ship calls at the port to one a week.

On Monday evening, roughly 12,760 TEU of export containers, 8,914 TEU import containers, and 38,000 empty containers were clogging inland container depots near the port.

Thanks to the country’s strong manufacturing sector and reasonable economic growth, the increase in cargo handled by Mexico’s ports outpaced that of both the US and Canada in 2018.

Container growth at Halifax stalled in 2018, but the prospect for stronger growth remains, considering volume through the Nova Scotia gateway jumped 50 percent over the last five years, largely thanks to attracting new Asia services.

Oakland port commissioners set May 13 date to move forward on up to a four-year environmental and construction permit process that will ultimately determine if a controversial baseball stadium is built at Howard Terminal.

The port of Manzanillo is looking to reduce the waiting time for trucks to get into the port’s three terminals by creating external yards outside the terminals that can store import containers.

Chittagong — which suffers from a lack of container capacity, contributing to sporadic congestion even during good weather — ended operations 10 a.m. Thursday local time.