Port News

The U.S. economic recovery has not brought as much container volume growth as expected, according to an Asian transportation report by Jeffries, a global investment banking firm.

Christiansen Enterprises has moved into a 10,500-square-foot facility at Washington’s Port of Kalama to meet increasing demand from the forest products industry for its dry kilns, parts and services.

Antwerp’s container traffic declined 1.7 percent in the first half of 2013 from a year earlier, but total throughput was 2 percent higher.

The Port of Hueneme has hired John Demers as chief operations officer, according to Kristen Decas, the California port’s CEO and director.

The Port of Charleston’s container traffic in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, totaled 1.56 million 20-foot-equivalent units, increasing 9 percent over the previous year.

The U.S. Coast Guard has proposed establishment of temporary safety zones around all inbound and outbound grain shipment and grain shipment assist vessels involved in commerce with Mitsui, Marubeni and Louis Dreyfus facilities on the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest.

The International Longshoremen’s Association disaffiliated with the AFL-CIO’s Maritime Trades Department, citing dissatisfaction with the labor federation’s response to jurisdictional disputes involving dockworkers. The union remains a member of the AFL-CIO.

The Port of Long Beach reported June container volume totaled 565,476 20-foot-equivalent units, up 1.8 percent compared with the same month last year.

U.S. apparel importers are weighing whether the threat of bad publicity that could come from factory disasters in Bangladesh offsets savings gained by sourcing in the South Asian country.

Rail Service Center Rotterdam at the Netherlands’ Port of Rotterdam today celebrated handling its 5 millionth cargo unit since 1993.

Construction is progressing on the $1 billion Gerald Desmond Bridge at California’s Port of Long Beach.

A strike by canal lock workers that disrupted container and bulk shipping in large sectors of Germany’s inland waterway network for more than a week is over.

The Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest container port, reported a 7.2 percent year-over-year decline in June cargo volume.

A go-slow campaign by dockworkers has affected normal operations at the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal in India’s Port of Cochin, according to local shipping sources.

The Port of Oakland’s board of commissioners has unanimously approved a lawsuit settlement that could produce the port’s first super-sized terminal.

Representatives from the dockers’ union of the International Transport Workers’ Federation have resolved to organize a campaign to highlight the need for DP World to engage with unions...

From January through June, Lithuania’s Port of Klaipėda and Būtingės terminal handled 196,722 20-foot-equivalent units, improving 7.4 percent from 183,141 TEUs in the same period last year.

Cargo volume through Liberia’s port of Monrovia doubled in 2012, after work to expand the terminal led to a jump in the number of ships calls, according to the port’s manager, Reuters reports.

Associated British Ports signed a £70 million ($106 million) loan facility with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to partially finance the development of a container terminal at the port of Southampton.

Officials from Port of Hueneme in California and Ports America have formally christened the stevedoring company’s new Liebherr LHM 420 Litronic mobile harbor crane.

Dockworkers at the Brazilian port of Santos walked off the job but ended the protest early, with plans to strike again tomorrow, Reuters reports.

Georgia’s Gov. Nathan Deal, the Georgia Ports Authority and Cordele Intermodal Services today signed an inland port agreement to ensure a direct 200-mile rail route to and from...

An alliance of 17 North American retailers today unveiled the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding-five year agreement that aims to improve factory safety conditions in Bangladesh.

Dockworkers at the Port of Santos in Braazil have planned a 24-hour strike today to protest the federal government’s push to privatize port terminals, according to a union leader, Reuters reports.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a district judge’s order that two locals of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union pay damages to the National Labor Relations Board and an employer in connection with union picketing that turned violent at the Port of Longview, Wash., Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports.

The Port of Virginia handled 175,864 20-foot-equivalent units in June, increasing 4.4 percent or 7,434 units compared to June 2012, wrapping up the port’s best fiscal year ever.

The dispute over dockworker medical claims that produced a labor shortage at some West Coast ports on Monday resulted from alleged fraud and abuse of the waterfront contract rather than incompetence on the part of the benefits plan administrator, the employers’ association stated today.

Container terminal officials in the Port of New York and New Jersey said they’re sensitive to port truckers’ problems and are working to eliminate delays and congestion aggravated by volume shifts and seasonal labor shortages at the East Coast’s busiest port.

The Oregon AFL-CIO executive board has voted to pass a resolution that supports International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers at the Port of Portland after they were locked out by Marabeni-Columbia Grain.

Wilson Sons reported total container volume in the second quarter of 2013 was 229,300 20-foot-equivalent units, increasing 6.0 percent from 216,300 TEUs in the second quarter of 2012.

Strikes by unionized lock workers in several German waterway canal systems have halted barge traffic, according to a spokesperson at German service workers’ union Ver.di, which called for the strikes, Platts reports.

South Korea’s port of Busan is making preparations for the maiden call of a Maersk Triple E container vessel next week.

Karel De Gucht, the European Union’s trade commissioner; Dipu Moni, Bangladesh’s foreign minister; and Guy Ryder, director-general of the International Labour Organisation, have co-launched...

Container volumes at major ports in India slipped 4 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013-14, the Indian Ports Association said in a statement.

The Panama Canal Authority is studying the construction of a fourth set of new locks that would accommodate super post-Panamax vessels, which would run parallel to the third set of locks currently under construction, as part of its $5.2 billion expansion project, according to Breakbulk, JOC’s sister publication.

Cargohandling in Los Angeles-Long Beach slowed on Monday as some dockworkers did not report to work in order to protest what the International Longshore and Warehouse Union say is the slow processing of medical claims.

The Canadian government is providing funding up to C$225,000 (about US$212,813) through the APGCI Transportation Infrastructure Fund for a container transshipment and short-sea shipping feasibility study at Port Alberni, British Columbia.