Maritime

The import surge in Seattle-Tacoma this past month has filled local warehouses beyond capacity, crippling the transportation supply chain in the Pacific Northwest.

While carriers are enhancing intra-Asia operations, the moves come as shippers are seeing a shortfall in intra-Asia capacity as carriers skip port calls or redeploy larger vessels on main east-west trades, even as volumes surge.

US importers are taking bolder action to guarantee capacity in ways that would have been unimaginable in years past, from chartering ships, embracing transloading, and paying more to secure contracted ocean capacity

Canada’s largest pension fund is taking full ownership of Ports America as the fund seeks to increase its exposure to US markets and trade.

A demurrage dispute between a New York customs broker and Mediterranean Shipping Co. unmasks the degree to which key communication of shipment milestones is overly reliant on email.

The trans-Atlantic trade lane heads into its busy fourth quarter facing the same capacity-cutting port congestion issues as the larger trades out of Asia, leaving little room for rates to drop from record highs.

The ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver have not matched the rapid growth of US West Coast ports this year, but they are free of congestion and ready for any peak-season volumes that come their way.

The Georgia Ports Authority will spend $34 million to purchase an additional 40 acres of property adjacent to two existing development projects to expand container capacity even further over the next two years.

The Jacksonville Port Authority has awarded a $48.8 million construction contract that represents the beginning of a larger expansion at the Blount Island Terminal as it readies to handle larger ships.

The Port of New York and New Jersey on Monday reported the highest number of container ships at anchor all year as land-side congestion and the inability to quickly fetch containers off terminals add to delays.

Australian dockworkers are threatening to unleash a wave of strikes and work bans a Patrick Terminals, even as the ports struggle to keep facilities staffed amid COVID-19 infections.

Pinched at both Asian load ports and US receiving ports, trans-Pacific carriers in August registered their fourth consecutive month of deteriorating on-time performance.

An alliance of 150 industry giants is urging governments to get behind a global initiative that aims to decarbonize shipping by 2050.

There is a growing spread between the highest and lowest spot rates as cargo owners fight for limited space on the trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe trades.

Delays in Vietnamese production amid sky-high consumer demand in North America could create a surge in volume when factories reopen, putting even more pressure on already overwhelmed trans-Pacific supply chains.

With the number of ships at anchor growing at Shanghai, Ningbo, and in Southern California, the delays at Chinese origins will ripple through supply chains, raising the risk of another wave of structural blank sailings.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and their terminal operators seek quick relief from congestion problems as vessel bunching reaches historic levels.

While the ro/ro market booms thanks to high consumer demand and spillover container cargo, soaring vessel costs and an ongoing chip shortage add risk.

The latest move to tap into India’s export growth comes via a vessel-sharing deal between four regional carriers predominantly operating on intra-Asia trades.

Chassis providers warn that only the easing of import volumes, and the resulting reversal of rising dwell times, will relieve tightness in equipment supply as production capacity is maxed out.

With a declared transit time of 21 days from India’s JNPT to Norfolk, the new string boasts the fastest connection on the booming trade route, with the first westbound sailing scheduled for Oct. 25.

With capacity out of Oakland severely limited by carrier desertions last winter, Northern California agricultural shippers are desperate for vessel space this harvest season.

Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping Ports has expanded its European footprint with the addition of a minority stake in a Hamburg terminal.

Ro/ro carriers are adding capacity and ordering ships as Brexit snarls supply chains and complicates European labor shortages.

After a year of pandemic-induced delays, demand for refrigerated containers equipped with active controlled-atmosphere (CA) technology, typically reserved for high-value produce, has increased among a wider range of shippers.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach promise quick action to extend gate hours amid record cargo volumes, but their suggestions need buy-in from terminal operators, truckers, and shippers.

CMA CGM has raced to patch a leak in its customer information data, the second data breach the carrier has had to deal with in a year.

The Port of New Orleans and other Louisiana ports make an appeal for federal aid to restore operations that were damaged by Hurricane Ida.

The ever-growing queue of vessels off Southern California, while appearing to be counterproductive at first glance, is perfectly rational behavior on the part of carriers, writes JOC analyst Lars Jensen.

The current disruption exposes a glaring deficit in productivity, infrastructure, and information that predated the pandemic and has made North America the key culprit in the global meltdown in container supply chains.

Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announce new measures and incentives to speed cargo velocity as near-record freight volumes show no signs of slowing and congestion mounts.

Their shared experience amid COVID-19 has brought longshore labor and employers on the West and East coasts closer together and is helping the ports to handle record cargo volumes this year, terminal operators said.

While the issue of container booking cancellations and no-shows is nothing new in the shipping arena, CMA CGM’s surcharge appears to be the first known case in the current acutely imbalanced market scenario.

European regulators will find it increasingly hard to ignore complaints from shippers that supply chain delays and record transport prices are hurting their business, say shipper groups.

The dispute hangs on a clause inserted into the master coastwise contract in 2003 that requires ILA representation of workers operating ship-to-shore cranes and yard equipment.

Car dealers are "screaming" for inventory, but COVID-19 shutdowns and a snarled semiconductor supply chain are throwing up obstacles to production.

Maersk issued its third upgrade of full-year 2021 results thanks to the continued strength of its ocean business and high freight rates.

Port officials in the southeastern US are taking steps to help importers and exporters navigate terminal congestion that isn’t expected to ease anytime soon.

The failure of importers to move their containers from the docks to their warehouses in a timely manner is the root cause of congestion at both East and West coast ports, terminal operators say.

A consortium of container industry heavyweights has enlisted three banks in Asia to advise it on development of trade finance solutions to tether shipping data to new financing opportunities.