North American ports

The Class I railroad sees an opportunity to tap growth at the Gulf Coast’s busiest port with new intermodal lanes, while expanding its inland reach from Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Given the persistent downward pressure on demand, it remains to be seen if India-US carriers will be able to push through a new round of modest rate hikes planned for December.

The carrier is looking to expand beyond its two current services jointly offered with other liners with a standalone service meant to take advantage of the growing shift in sourcing from India.

The project, in coordination with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, is due to be completed in late 2024 and will help move cargo faster through Western Canada.

The Norfolk expansion plans from resin logistics specialist Katoen Natie come as more plastics production is going onstream in the Northeast US.

With peak season at hand for ag exports, shippers say weak US import volumes have constrained the supply of repositioned containers they need to send goods overseas, risking disruption to their supply chains.

The four-phase, seven-building project with CSX rail connections will support the growing needs of importers and exporters using the port.

While October is typically one of the busiest months of the year for West Coast ports, the region’s market share of imports from Asia slipped markedly from September, but carrier executives said that was an anomaly linked to capacity cuts in the eastbound trans-Pacific.

The bill is a response to growing CBP demands that ports pay for new inspection-related equipment, or risk having the agency reduce the amount of time its officers spend performing inspections.

The long-standing spread, typically about $1,000, is now half that as volume growth returns to West Coast ports and shippers increasingly tap into Southeast Asia manufacturing.

GPA's ability to handle growing volumes has attracted the likes of Rivian and Hyundai, both planting roots in Georgia to export vehicles from new facilities through Brunswick.

The direct service that kicks off at the end of the month will add further options to transport apparel, textiles, poultry, pork and agricultural products between Central America and the US East Coast.

Alongside broader talks on wages for its members, the International Longshoremen’s Association said individual ports need to use more union supervisors and foremen, particularly throughout the South.

The cracks in the gateway’s attractiveness to importers and exporters out of the US Midwest were showing before this July’s work stoppage and the decline in import demand across North America.

Once fully complete by 2025, the current expansion project would allow the port to handle 1.1 million TEUs annually, up from 650,000 TEUs.

The Singapore-based carrier has now expanded its access to capacity in the strategic locations of the US West Coast, North Europe and Southeast Asia.

Ahead of an International Longshoremen’s Association conference, president Harold Daggett has warned union rank-and-file to be prepared for the “possibility of a coast-wide strike.”

Along with the grant for the Port of Wilmington’s proposed container terminal, Tacoma and Long Beach received grants for improving truck and rail access, respectively.

Six amicus briefs have been filed to the US Supreme Court supporting the South Carolina Ports Authority’s position that the ILA is illegally forcing carriers to boycott Charleston’s Hugh Leatherman Terminal as a means to acquire jobs that belong to state employees.

On-time performance to the West Coast improved during the busiest month of 2023 for Asian imports to date, but East Coast reliability took a dip.

Pacific-focused Matson has already enjoyed the return of some cargoes that had been diverted to the East and Gulf coasts but are now returning to the West Coast after the ILWU ratified its contract in September.

Developers of the Sparrows Point Container Terminal are starting the permitting process with the US Army Corps of Engineers that will allow construction to begin in 2025.

The Georgia Ports Authority plans to open a third ocean terminal in Savannah in 2030 and says updating its current hybrid labor model to an all-union workforce could cost the port $600 million in its first operating year.

While neither side has made public its terms for a new collective bargaining agreement, sources familiar with the talks say the union is looking for a 20% increase in wages over four years and a faster seniority path for dockworkers.

The Panama Canal faces the prospect of transit and loading limitations becoming a regular feature of all-water transits to eastern North America, while a shift of trade out of China increasingly favors Suez Canal routings in the longer-term, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The latest service suspensions signal that US and European demand for some Asia-sourced consumer goods will remain tepid following the record spending splurge of the previous two years.

The FMC complaint is atypical in that it’s an ocean carrier challenging fees rather than a cargo owner, forwarder or trucker pushing back against detention and demurrage charges.

Mexico’s second-largest port is being added as regular and irregular call to trans-Pacific services due to draft restrictions and increasing availability of intermodal rail.

Amid a down year overall, Gulf Coast port volumes are holding up thanks to petrochemical exports, as well as growing imports related to energy projects and specialized manufacturing in the region.

Construction of the C$750 million, 400,000-TEU facility for Canadian and US agricultural and resin exports will be key to achieving more balanced two-way trade through the Western Canadian port.

After jettisoning previously planned October rate hikes, some India-USEC carriers have published new, modest rate increase plans for November.

SC Ports says the work will allow the terminal to attract growing volumes of cargo moving through the Suez Canal on large ships that are too big to call the facility now.

Discretionary cargo is returning to the West Coast as the confidence of retailers is boosted by ratification of the longshore labor contract in late August and the ability of the ports to immediately handle more cargo.

Demand for industrial warehousing is surging along the Southeast US, with Virginia attracting more than 11 million square feet in the last three years.

CMA CGM chairman Rodolphe Saade said he is seeing more customer demand than ever for Southeast Asia services that will eventually call at the carrier’s two recently acquired terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Deepening Savannah’s shipping channel, which would take about 10 years to complete, would put the port on par with other major Southeast ports such as Charleston and Norfolk.

While more port dredging will also be necessary, New York-New Jersey marine terminals are installing more of the cranes needed to handle 18,000-TEU ships that may eventually call the port.

Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM jointly opened the IN2 in September 2021 as a complementary loop to their sought-after Indamex service to capitalize on pandemic-linked demand swings.

The Montreal Port Authority said the funding will allow it to “implement a new delivery model” for the Contrecoeur terminal project after talks with initial bidders did not lead to a “satisfactory” result.

With retailers shipping early this year and showing caution in placing orders with Asian factories for holiday merchandise, a major retail group has lowered its forecast for US imports in the coming months.