Breakbulk ports

News and analysis of breakbulk ports, terminals, dredging, expansion, inland distribution, labor, disruption, congestion, cargo flow

The latest Breakbulk ports News & Analysis

Aging roads, drivers weigh on US heavy-haul trucking amid booming demand

Autumn Cafiero Giusti, Special Correspondent |
As US project cargo demand — and cargoes themselves — grow, heavy-haul trucking carriers are struggling with permitting delays, infrastructure complications and a rapidly aging workforce.
Project cargoEnergy projectsBreakbulk ports

Proactive approach to ISPM 15 progressing despite roadblocks

Autumn Cafiero Giusti, Special Correspondent |
Breakbulk shippers and logistics providers have several proposals for changes to ISPM 15 mitigation and enforcement measures pending approval from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Port of South Louisiana buys Avondale terminal as wind cargo boost looms

Autumn Cafiero Giusti, Special Correspondent |
The acquisition of Avondale by the port comes just as the state of Louisiana readies to auction its first round of offshore wind leases.
Breakbulk NewsProject cargoEnergy projectsNorth American portsBreakbulk ports

New Orleans H1 breakbulk tonnage doubles amid ‘spillover’ surge

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
Pandemic congestion may be easing as container rates fall, but breakbulk spillover cargo shows no sign of slowing at the Port of New Orleans.
Breakbulk carriersBreakbulk ports

Breakbulk shippers feeling the pinch from increased detention charges

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
In a hot breakbulk market, carriers are asking for — and getting — far higher detention fees to cover their potential losses when shippers delay loading or picking up their cargo.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk ports

Houston’s port chief targets 2025 completion for big ship dredging

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The Port of Houston is trying to expedite a $1 billion dredging project as an ongoing surge in containerized freight shows the need for more capacity at the Gulf Coast’s busiest port.
North American portsBreakbulk ports

Outlook 2022: Houston port pushes infrastructure plans to keep ahead of growth

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
Houston is seeing a surge in imports thanks to the upsizing of vessel services from Asia as other Gulf Coast ports look for a similar uplift.
MaritimeNorth American portsBreakbulk portsDrayage

New approaches needed to stamp out breakbulk pests

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
Controlling dangerous wood-boring pests in wood packaging material will require more consistent enforcement across the US and helping the private sector learn how to look for these pests themselves.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsMaritimeBreakbulk carriersBreakbulk ports

Breakbulk volume recovery triggers CBP invasive pest violations

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
After a COVID-19 pandemic lull, violations of ISPM 15 regulations around dangerous insects are increasing in Houston and elsewhere, triggering costly remedies and intense frustration in the breakbulk and project cargo community.
Project cargoBreakbulk ports

Houston pilots dial back ship length restriction

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
Houston pilots said they will allow larger ships to transit the ship channel in a nod to ease a restriction that was seen as falling unfairly on the container shipping industry.
North American portsBreakbulk ports

Houston containership limit may be anti-competitive: FMC commissioners

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The Texas legislation being questioned by two Federal Maritime Commissioners stemmed from concerns among non-container port users that the growing volume of containerships calling Houston are disrupting the ability of other vessels to transit in an efficient manner.
Container linesNorth American portsBreakbulk portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

US Gulf trade momentum puts focus on Houston port channel widening

Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor |
Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel is looking into ways that Houston could handle larger vessels before a widening project is complete, given a Texas law that puts size limits on port calls.
North American portsBreakbulk portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

WRDA passage boosts Houston Ship Channel expansion

JOC Staff |
Approval of the Water Resources Development Act this year includes authorization to begin spending down the more than $9 billion balance in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
North American portsBreakbulk ports

UHL expands F900 fleet, adds Houston office

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
UHL, one of very few carriers currently adding newbuildings to the multipurpose fleet, is scheduled to receive eight new F900 ships through December 2021, with the first ship scheduled for delivery in December.
Breakbulk carriersProject cargoBreakbulk ports

Houston first-half steel imports down sharply amid energy sector freeze

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
Falling oil prices and rising demand for wind turbines are driving the mix of breakbulk and project cargo in Houston and throughout the US Gulf.
Breakbulk portsBreakbulk carriers

Houston upgrades boosted by $79 million federal grant

Michael Angell, Special Correspondent |
The latest federal funds for the Port of Houston will go to restoring 2,700 linear feet of wharf and upgrading 84 acres of yard space at Barbours Cut Terminal.
North American portsBreakbulk ports

Houston port channel widening eligible for federal funding

JOC Staff |
The need to widen the channel gained urgency last year when a group of non-container businesses that rely on the port expressed concerns their cargoes would be squeezed by the increasing size and number of container ships moving through Houston.
North American portsBreakbulk ports

Breakbulk shippers increasing ISPM 15 ‘self-mitigation’ measures

Catherine Dorrough, Special Correspondent |
With information on ISPM 15 violations still difficult to come by, shippers are investigating and educating wood packaging materials (WPM) makers, increasing requirements for heat treatments, and turning to non-WPM materials for dunnage.
Breakbulk carriersProject cargoBreakbulk ports

Houston balks at bond plan to fund channel widening

Hugh R. Morley, Senior Editor |
The Port of Houston says a group of non-container stakeholders should revise its plan for the authority to float a $500 million bond for the project to widen the port channel, saying that under the plan the port would then be responsible if payments were not made.
North American portsBreakbulk ports

ISPM 15 stamp no guarantee of compliance

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
A recent uptick in pest presence in properly treated and marked wood packaging materials (WPM) has US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rethinking its ISPM 15 enforcement policies.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk ports

Enhanced enforcement of ISPM 15 costing US importers millions

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
Violations of ISPM 15, which maintains strict guidelines for treatment of all wood packaging materials (WPM) to prevent the accidental introduction of invasive pests, can result in the re-exportation of entire shipments of goods and large fines, even if importers and carriers have followed the regulations to the best of their abilities.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk ports

ISPM 15 enforcement leaves shippers with few options

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
US importers say they face a lack of alternatives, feedback, and proactive sourcing information from enforcement officials when treated and apparently compliant wood packaging materials (WPM) fail ISPM 15 inspection.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk ports

Phillip Brown joins SAL’s Houston office

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift |
Chartering specialist leaves EPC company Fluor for Bremen-based super-heavy-lift carrier.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk ports