International ports

A report from the US Governmental Accountability Office shows the possible, but narrow, path for adoption of automation at US ports as maritime employers and longshore labor along the East and Gulf coasts attempt to hammer out a new master contract.

The move comes as container shipping affiliate Cosco Shipping Holdings is expanding services between China and Thailand and as overall shipping capacity is growing between the two countries.

A rise in consumer spending in Europe has kept volume at the port in positive territory so far this year, but full vessels and “peak loads” are keeping pressure on terminals and inland connections.

The Belgian hub says it now handles almost one-third of the container trade in the busy Hamburg-Le Havre port range.

The carrier will exit the 2M Alliance next January and has been on an acquisition spree over the past year to shore up its global logistics and container terminal operations.

The country could be on the verge of undoing legislation that abolished cabotage restrictions, saying the boost received by foreign-flag carriers has come at the expense of local shipping interests.

The group, comprising ONE, HMM and Yang Ming, said the changes apply to two trans-Pacific services and an Asia-Mediterranean service.

DP World’s group chairman and CEO had initially ordered the cancellation of Monday’s announcement after being angered by comments made last week by two UK government officials.

The move comes after two UK government officials sharply criticized the March 2022 mass layoffs at DP World subsidiary P&O Ferries while launching new legislation to protect seafarer rights.

Local freight forwarders say carriers on the trade lane are willing to strike special rate deals with large-volume customers on a per-sailing or short-term contract basis.

With no improvement in the Red Sea security situation and shippers preparing for 2025 contracts, Gemini has jettisoned the traditional shorter route in favor of the longer transit around southern Africa.

Eight ports that are working toward “just-in-time” port calls provided their experiences of improving quality around vessel-terminal data sharing.

New provisional guidelines from Indian regulators will allow the major shipping alliances to operate at national ports as long as homegrown carriers get guaranteed access to a 5% share of the massive vessel-sharing agreements.

Israel-based Zim said its new alliance with MSC will offer customers extensive port reach and enhanced service levels.

The new network designs recently rolled out by ocean carriers will present shippers with quite an element of choice, and in turn ensure strong competitive pressure among the liners, writes Lars Jensen.

The facility, which is 30% owned by the Maersk terminal unit APM Terminals, is the largest relay port in the Gemini Asia-to-Europe hub-and-spoke network that aims to redefine the concept of container shipping reliability.

The acquisition will significantly expand CMA CGM’s port reach into a region that is seeing robust demand.

The port, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, is in the industrial heartland of Germany and a key transshipment point for intermodal cargo in Northern Europe.

Hapag-Lloyd said in an advisory that ships were already waiting up to 60 hours to berth at Shanghai and up 48 hours to berth in Ningbo due to vessel bunching ahead of the storm.

Winds of more than 120 miles per hour closed ports, damaged factories and brought down power lines in northern Vietnam this weekend, delaying some vessels for days.

After five rounds of negotiations and a series of 24-hour warning strikes at Germany’s ports, the union and port employers may finally be close to an agreement.

Mundra — India’s top container port — is dealing with operational chaos after it was forced to halt operations for a few days last week in the aftermath of severe weather.

Cargo Services will expand the global port operator’s reach in Asia across a range of industry verticals.

Many European shippers are locked into the peak season that will extend the high volume of Asian imports through the third quarter despite the early movement of orders to mitigate disruption from the longer Red Sea routing.

Slowing trade with China and carriers adjusting port schedules were factors behind a drop in first-half volume at Europe’s third-largest port.

HHLA’s container volume and financial performance in the first six months has been a marked improvement on a disappointing 2023.

Acquiring a majority stake in Loconi International continues the Singapore-based terminal operator’s growth strategy designed to expand control of its cargo handling beyond the quay.

The closure of one of China’s busiest container ports will add to the lengthening vessel delays being seen on the main Asian export trade lanes, while North Europe grapples with its own congestion woes on the other end.

The crisis has surfaced on the heels of recent capacity expansions from major liners, particularly Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co., to tap booming apparel exports and associated input material inflows from China.

With major liners on the trade lane reporting full ships over the last few weeks, incidents of cargo rolling have been more pervasive, forwarders say.

Strong demand, tight vessel capacity and delays at some key Brazilian ports are pushing freight rates close to the record levels hit during the pandemic.

CMA CGM will begin a rebranded standalone India America Express string from Aug. 15, decoupling from the consortium it had with Hapag-Lloyd.

The present situation provides a strong competitive advantage for Asian regional carriers who can transit both the Gulf of Aden and the southern Red Sea without being attacked, writes analyst Lars Jensen.

Maersk seems to be leading the race to scale the supply chain for Bangladesh’s booming ready-made garment verticals, with the carrier opening a third weekly Bangladesh-China loop.

Shippers advancing orders for Asian imports to avoid supply chain disruption and mitigate longer voyages around southern Africa lifted container throughput at Europe’s two largest ports.

Spot booking prices from West India to the US East and West coasts have seen four- to five-fold gains in the last week or so, according to local freight forwarders.

Spot booking prices from West India to the US East and West coasts have seen four- to five-fold gains in the last week or so, according to local freight forwarders.

Colombo in recent months has found itself suffering serious capacity issues — an opportunity the Indian government and the country’s port stakeholders are looking to take advantage of.

Forwarders cited two plausible factors for the price move — excess capacity pumped into the market and a moderation in cargo booking demand due to improved shipper inventory levels.

The opening of the first of three new container berths last week at the Tuas mega container terminal is part of a larger effort to shift operations away from the city center.