International ports

Container throughput at South Korea’s Incheon Port expanded in the first quarter.

There appears to be no real relief in sight to the supply chain woes that have long plagued Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s busiest public container gateway, costing shippers and the trade in general in more ways than one.

Russia is developing a plan to certify container weighing scales so exporters can meet the International Maritime Organization’s verified gross mass rule with less than 70 days before it takes effect.

Intermodal logistics giant Container Corporation of India is moving heavily into privately operated Krishnapatnam Port, lured by new mainline service additions and strong volume gains at the minor, alternative cargo gateway on India’s east coast.

The first meeting of the newly formed Hong Kong Maritime & Port Board will take place early next month. Chaired by the secretary for Transport & Housing, the body is an amalgam of the old Maritime Industry Council and the Port Development Council. It is designed to deliver more effective governance and strategy over the development of the territory’s port and maritime sector.

The Patrick container terminal at the port of Melbourne in Australia will face a stoppage as part of a three-week-old industrial action campaign by the Maritime Union of Australia as the two parties negotiate contracts.

A simplified, expanded “direct port delivery” scheme at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, introduced with the goal of reducing cargo dwell times in India’s busiest container gateway, has run into trouble after private terminal authorities said they are unable to extend the so-called green channel facility to all approved clients without being compensated for the increased volume.

China’s top container ports booked March throughput growth of 4.2 percent compared with the same month in 2015. The country’s top eight ports handled a combined 12.45 million twenty-foot-equivalent units in March, bringing their throughput into positive territory for the first quarter of 2016, with first-quarter volumes up 0.9 percent on the same period last year to 35.4 million TEUs.

Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting Inc. expects Japan’s container trade to remain almost flat in fiscal 2016, edging up only 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 11.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units because of economic uncertainty both at home and abroad.

Cargo-handling and vessel operations in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust have returned to normal levels, as terminal authorities cleared up much of the freight that built up on the back of labor disruptions that caused intermittent gate closings and forced truck drivers to wait in long lines outside access points earlier this week at India’s busiest container gateway.

Southeast Asia has a high level of potential for the development of ports and container terminals, particularly in the smaller sized segment serving vessels with capacities to 5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units.

Rotterdam’s container traffic shrank by 3.9 percent in the first quarter, extending a decline in 2015 that has narrowed Europe’s largest box port’s lead over second-ranked Antwerp, which continues to grow its market share.

Container lines can reserve transits for vessels of up to 14,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units through the Panama Canal, providing carriers with the ability to gain greater economies of scale, which may or may not be passed onto shippers.

The port of Paranagua, Brazil’s second-largest in tonnage terms and third-largest in container traffic, could soon have another container terminal, although some remain skeptical about the Novo Porto project with a capacity of 1.5 million twenty-foot-equivalent units and cost of 4 billion reais ($1.1 billion).

Logistics providers out of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust are again reporting long truck lines and frequent gate closings at terminals in India’s busiest public container gateway, reminiscent of the gridlock in the second half of last year following labor disruptions that diverted some cargo to nearby private, or minor, ports.

Canada's largest port could run into a "brick wall" limiting maritime expansion in coming years, unless provincial rules restricting land use can modified and some local political ill-will overcome.

On the back of roaring chicken exports the rapidly growing Terminal de Conteineres de Paranagua will spend $310 million to boost its capacity 1 million 20-foot equivalent units to 2.5 million TEUs after receiving a concession running through 2048. The investment will also allow the port to handle ships with capacities of up to 12,000 TEUs.

The port of Antwerp’s container traffic increased 4.6 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, extending a growth trend that boosted volume to an all-time high in 2015, while its closest rivals, Rotterdam and Hamburg, posted declines.

Cross-border e-commerce and the continuing development of a new free trade zone are expected to be the primary drivers of growth in Tianjin’s port and logistics sector while aiding the recovery of the city’s economy following deadly explosions at the port last year.

India’s Ministry of Shipping has drawn up an ambitious list of nearly 140 public-private-partnership contracts involving a total investment of about Rs. 83,000 crore (approximately $13 billion) for awarding at a three-day investor conference scheduled to begin April 14 in Mumbai.

DP World Southampton will fit container-weighing equipment to its entire straddle carrier fleet to support the weighing service that the terminal will offer shippers from July 1, when the new SOLAS regulation will be enforced.

Drayage and inland infrastructure bottlenecks that have long been a drag on growth at state-owned Chennai Port continue to drive up demand for alternative port options on India’s east coast.

India’s ports sector continued its financial recovery in fiscal 2015-16 after its 12 major state-owned ports, known as major ports, booked an increase in operating profit of 19 percent.

African countries face the daunting challenge of securing continuous investment and project finance solutions to bring port infrastructure and supply chain networks up to par with those of the rest of the world.

Container Terminal St. Petersburg, one of three container terminals at the Big St. Petersburg seaport, has gained market share by reducing its pricing and offering cheaper customs inspections.

Longshoremen working for terminal operator Patrick at the Australian port of Fremantle have been on strike since Wednesday with another action planned for Sydney’s Autostrad Terminal April 13 to increase pressure on Patrick to reach an agreement on employment terms and conditions.

The Greek government today officially sold the country’s largest port, Piraeus, to China’s Cosco Group, prompting striking dockers to stage a protest march through downtown Athens.

Senior maritime and transport officials in Ghana identified piracy and corruption as central challenges in the development of an efficient port and supply chain network in West Africa.

Singapore-based carrier Continental Shipping Line has introduced a direct container service between Chennai, India, and Yangon, Myanmar, to capture expected trade growth on the route.

The volume of containers handled by Adani Hazira Container Terminal, a privately-operated alternative gateway on India’s west coast, nearly doubled in fiscal year 2015-16, which ended March 31, driven by new service additions.

Brazil’s passionate Ports Minister Helder Barbalho announced that the recently delayed second tranche of port privatizations valued at more than 2.8 billion reais ($763.3 million) would go forward on June 5 at the Sao Paulo bourse.

The already bleak situation facing the container terminals at Brazil’s port of Santos has become even more dire.

India’s major ports controlled by the union government recorded a 3 percent year-over-year increase in container throughput in fiscal year 2015-16, which ended March 31, according to the newest provisional port statistics collected by JOC.com.

APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India resumed normal vessel operations Tuesday morning after outsourced workers handling rubber-tire gantry crane operations ended a four-day strike that shut down export gates at the terminal and slowed down cargo handling at India's busiest public port complex, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

Ocean containers are piling up at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, threatening to impact normal operations at India’s biggest public port complex, as a stoppage by unionized workers handling rubber-tire gantry crane operations entered its fourth day on Monday.

Labor problems associated with rubber-tire gantry crane operations that had been a key contributor to congestion and bottlenecks at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust last year have resurfaced, hours after JOC.com reported that stable industrial relations are imperative if India’s biggest public container handler intends to cope with the challenges ahead in this era of ever-larger mega ship calls and fierce competition from nearby private ports.

DP World-operated Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminals at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on Friday hosted the MSC Cristina, reportedly the largest container ship ever to call Indian shores.

All but one of Japan’s five biggest ports posted negative traffic results in 2015 amid growing economic uncertainty both at home and abroad, with only the Port of Kobe weathering the storm well enough to eke out growth.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust finished fiscal year 2015-16 with a new record in container lifts even as weaker global demand and other challenges, especially labor flare-ups and landside bottlenecks, hurt the pace of growth at India’s busiest pubic container gateway.

The exit of the PMDB party from Brazil’s ruling coalition casts fresh doubt on the ability of the government to adequately dredge the port of Santos in a timely manner as it clears the way for the minister of the Special Ports Ministry, a PMDB member, to leave his post.