North American ports

Duluth Seaway Port Authority has become the second Great Lakes port with the ability to handle international sea freight with the expansion of a container examination facility.

The South Carolina Ports Authority wants to tap more shippers of consumer goods by speeding the flow of containers off its terminals and making transloading sites more available.

Jim Newsome will step down in mid-2022 after 13 years of serving as chief executive officer of South Carolina Ports.

The Georgia Ports Authority has begun offering fixed earliest receiving dates (ERDs) and will sync up cutoff dates with ocean carriers to address two of the top concerns of exporters in Savannah.

Three ocean carriers have decided to temporarily switch US calls to Charleston instead of Savannah as more than 20 vessels are anchored off the Georgia port.

Even as the Biden administration works to ease US port congestion, fresh data on September imports from Asia shows stakeholders have their work cut out for them.

The White House said the Port of Los Angeles will start offering an overnight shift for the retrieval of containers and that major shippers have pledged to utilize the new shift.

Reinstatement of the Ocean Network Express trans-Pacific service to Oakland that ONE canceled earlier this year due to port congestion will add some much-needed vessel capacity to handle agricultural exports.

Truckers were blocked from returning empty containers to NY-NJ marine terminals more than usual in September due to ongoing congestion.

Los Angeles-Long Beach ports say they still need more buy-in from shippers to participate in projects designed to increase cargo velocity after 15 months of congestion and little sign of relief for the months ahead.

The Port of Virginia’s modernization program is 80 percent complete and due to finish in 2022, which will provide a newer chassis fleet that is less likely to break down on a highway.

The Port of Virginia has seen increasing delays for rail-bound ocean containers due to Norfolk Southern’s metering of traffic.

Container terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey will start charging truckers who miss appointments, citing the need to recoup the costs of staging containers for pickup.

Industry leaders have observed in recent weeks that despite efforts by individual ports to address congestion issues, the biggest impact on fluidity of cargo movements will come from an easing of demand.

The import surge in Seattle-Tacoma this past month has filled local warehouses beyond capacity, crippling the transportation supply chain in the Pacific Northwest.

Canada’s largest pension fund is taking full ownership of Ports America as the fund seeks to increase its exposure to US markets and trade.

The ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver have not matched the rapid growth of US West Coast ports this year, but they are free of congestion and ready for any peak-season volumes that come their way.

The Georgia Ports Authority will spend $34 million to purchase an additional 40 acres of property adjacent to two existing development projects to expand container capacity even further over the next two years.

The Jacksonville Port Authority has awarded a $48.8 million construction contract that represents the beginning of a larger expansion at the Blount Island Terminal as it readies to handle larger ships.

The Port of New York and New Jersey on Monday reported the highest number of container ships at anchor all year as land-side congestion and the inability to quickly fetch containers off terminals add to delays.

Chassis providers warn that only the easing of import volumes, and the resulting reversal of rising dwell times, will relieve tightness in equipment supply as production capacity is maxed out.

With capacity out of Oakland severely limited by carrier desertions last winter, Northern California agricultural shippers are desperate for vessel space this harvest season.

The Port of New Orleans and other Louisiana ports make an appeal for federal aid to restore operations that were damaged by Hurricane Ida.

The dispute hangs on a clause inserted into the master coastwise contract in 2003 that requires ILA representation of workers operating ship-to-shore cranes and yard equipment.

Port officials in the southeastern US are taking steps to help importers and exporters navigate terminal congestion that isn’t expected to ease anytime soon.

The Port of Baltimore received four fully electric cranes on Thursday for a second berth that will open when the cranes are put into commission in a few months.

The Port of Philadelphia’s main container terminal will stop unloading and loading operations through the rest of the week in a bid to clear out a container backlog.

After going four years without a weekly container line service, Portland announces new services as well as ad-hoc calls by ships chartered by freight forwarders.

The International Longshoremen’s Association said its membership will not work robotic ships as a solidarity gesture with other maritime employees at risk from automation technology.

The Port of New Orleans is scheduled to reopen Monday after being closed for more than a week due to power loss caused by Hurricane Ida.

Los Angeles-Long Beach terminal operators are pulling out all stops to handle a record 20 million TEU of laden and empty containers this year with the peak season now in full swing.

The Port of Long Beach has put 2032 as an initial timeline for the completion of its ambitious Pier B On-Dock rail project, contingent upon final permitting and negotiations with other parties.

Georgia’s governor frees up truckers to work longer hours and carry oversized loads as the state wants to ensure its supply chains are working during a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Port of New Orleans was still closed Tuesday as Hurricane Ida caused widespread power outages in the neighborhoods around the port.

The Port of New Orleans was closed Monday after Hurricane Ida swept through the region, while other landside transportation was also largely at a standstill due to widespread flooding.

The head of the busiest US East Coast port said vessels are having to wait longer at anchorage and container dwell has risen as shippers bring in their holiday wares.

One of Port of Miami’s largest marine terminals is facing an informal boycott by drayage carriers who say they are tired of the interminable waits for picking up containers.

Oakland has addressed its labor shortages and restored terminal fluidity, but vessel bunching and excessive container dwell times continue to limit productivity in Seattle-Tacoma.

With containers sitting in Savannah’s Garden City terminal longer and the number of vessels anchored outside the port in the double digits, the Georgia Ports Authority is urging importers to pick up their container faster and use intermodal rail to help vacate a growing backlog of boxes.

The Port of Charleston received a $1.3 million grant through the EPA’s Clean Diesel Program, which will support the purchase of eight all-electric, zero-emission vehicles to support exporters.