International ports

U.S. West Coast diversions helped fuel an 8 percent container volume increase at Port Metro Vancouver and allowed Canada’s largest container gateway to retain its Pacific Northwest market share.

The 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. will add a trans-Pacific call at Prince Rupert, giving the fast-growing British Columbia port its first direct Asian call from non-CKYHE carriers.

The Port of Hamburg handled 6.8 percent fewer containers in the first half of 2015 than a year ago, as sharply lower Russian and Chinese traffic hampered the German port's goal to become the No. 2 container gateway in North Europe.

Russia plans to double the traffic at its Far East ports by 2020-2022 via port modernizations and targeting trade with Asia to counterbalance the effects of tit-for-tat sanctions between Russia and the West.

CMA CGM is switching its Indian port calls on the CIMEX 2N service, an intra-Asia loop connecting major ports in China and the Indian subcontinent region by switching one of the service’s India calls to Mundra from Pipavav.

Tianjin's main container terminals continue to operate normally in the aftermath of last week’s deadly explosion at the Binhai New Area that killed more than 112 people, but the discovery at the weekend of a huge amount of highly toxic chemicals has the port on edge.

A political battle is brewing in Brazil as stakeholders spar over the future of the country’s Special Ports Ministry, or SEP, in a contest that may determine how future of container trade development.

Container operations at the Port of Tianjin are returning to normal after two explosions rocked the 10th largest global container port and the main gateway serving Beijing.

More ocean carriers have announced emergency surcharges for Jawaharlal Nehru Port-bound cargo to offset extra costs caused by the week-long shutdown of APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India.

No decision on a block exemption for Hong Kong’s container shipping industry will be made before the new competition law comes into effect on December 14, leaving the container shipping industry in the bizarre position where its activity will be illegal from that date.

One of the largest Russian investment holdings is betting that it can lure cargo from Southeast Asia away from Northern European ports through a planned Taman seaport — even after government backing faded.

Operations at two container terminals in the port of Tianjin have been suspended following the massive blast at a dangerous goods warehouse that has reportedly killed more than 40 people and injured hundreds.

APM Terminals has entered Colombia after joining forces with domestic terminal operator Compas S.A. to manage and operate the latter’s existing multipurpose Cartagena Terminal.

An enormous explosion said to have injured hundreds and been felt 10 kilometers away from the epicenter has been blamed on a container held at a terminal in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, China, according to Chinese news report.

Construction workers building the Panama Canal’s third set of locks have called off a threatened strike after winning a pay increase from the construction consortium at the helm of the project.

APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India resumed operations Wednesday morning following the end of a week-long shutdown due to labor troubles, but it will take stakeholders weeks to clear up cargo backlogs and bring ship schedules back on track at the country’s busiest container gateway, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, according to local shipping sources.

Workers handling rubber-tired gantry crane operations and their employers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust reached a new contract late Tuesday, ending a week-long strike that shut down APM Terminals’ Gateway Terminals India facility, the largest container terminal in India.

Russia plans to increase container volume through the Baltic Sea via the opening of a Bronka seaport and CMA CGM weekly services set to begin calling the port in September.

The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project may face a fresh setback if construction workers building the third set of locks follow through with their threat to strike.

In a sign Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust users are running out of patience with congestion spurred by the shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, which halted operations August 4 following labor troubles, ship agents representing ocean carriers in JNPT have called on federal government agencies to urgently step in to restore normalcy at the country’s busiest container port.

Ocean carriers have begun levying surcharges on Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust cargo to compensate for operational cost increases caused by the prolonged shutdown of APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, even as JNPT maintains it is taking all the necessary steps to mitigate supply chain disruptions at India’s largest container gateway.

India’s major public ports boosted container volumes by nearly 5 percent in July from a year earlier, helping the ports recover from a year-over-year decline of 1.5 percent in throughput recorded last month, according to the latest provisional port statistics compiled by JOC.com.

Following rapidly in the wake of the launch of weekly containerized rail service for a rival Santos port terminal, Grupo Libra has gained its own service with rail operator MRS Logistica to serve its two right bank terminals.

Tauranga is more than half-finished with a $238 million project that will allow it to handle container ships with capacities of up 6,000 20-foot equivalent units.

All operations at Gateway Terminals India, or APMT Mumbai, continue to be shut down after conciliatory efforts by stakeholders to settle a prolonged labor contract dispute related to rubber-tired gantry crane operations collapsed Friday afternoon, forcing ocean carriers to reroute vessels and causing unprecedented shipping backlogs at the country’s biggest public container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

The Georgian government expects annual container traffic through the country’s seaports to roughly double to 1 million 20-foot-equivalent units by 2020, due to growth in the region and the expansion of it two major seaports, Poti and Batumi.

The Chinese government is prohibiting some port service charges and reducing the costs of others in an attempt to galvanize container shipping as the as the country’s container volume growth slows due to reduced global demand.

Brazilian stakeholders in the transport industry from state governments to port and trade organizations are pushing back strongly against the federal government’s plans to centralize all the country’s port authorities under the aegis of the Special Ports Ministry (SEP) in Brasilia.

The Ukrainian government is considering easing the customs clearance of containers at seaports to stop the 30 percent plunge in container volume that has plagued the country since the eruption of tensions with Russia.

Gateway Terminals India, the largest container facility in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, remained closed to all shipping activities for the third consecutive day Thursday due to labor troubles, leaving beleaguered ocean carriers scrambling for alternative berthing options and shippers’ cargo stranded at the country’s busiest container port. Other terminals are also facing congestion on connecting arteries.

Two groups in Nova Scotia are racing to nail down a long-term commitment by one or more container lines to call at their proposed deep-water container terminals with super post-Panamax ships on rotations from Asia to Europe.

Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, has filed a lawsuit to force Vancouver drayage firms to pay back wages to drivers that were part of a 2014 agreement to end a month-long strike at Port Metro Vancouver.

Port Itapoa is expecting an 11 percent jump in container traffic this year, thanks to robust chicken and beef exports to China, new services and better road connections.

Woo Ye-jong has been tapped to lead the Port of Busan in its effort to become an even larger transshipment hub, succeeding Lim Ki-tack who has been elected as the International Maritime Organization's next secretary-general.

Two container ships at Port Klang, Malaysia, collided, sending containers and debris into the harbor.

A new joint venture between DP World and Toll Logistics in Sydney, Australia, could provide a container shuttle out of Port Botany and slash exports of empty boxes.

Work on the New Port Project at Al Wakrah, Qatar, is rapidly progressing towards completion as the small Gulf nation seeks an alternative to the congested existing port.

Oman International Container Terminal operated by Hutchison Port Holdings, will quadruple capacity to 6 million 20-foot-equivalent units, to capitalize on the recent closure of the Port Sultan Qaboos, Muscat.

State-owned Container Corporation of India is expanding its intermodal services connecting the country’s southeastern container ports, beginning its second rail service to a southeastern port in as many months.