Breakbulk ports

News and analysis of breakbulk ports, terminals, dredging, expansion, inland distribution, labor, disruption, congestion, cargo flow

The latest Breakbulk ports News & Analysis

Proactive approach to ISPM 15 progressing despite roadblocks

Autumn Cafiero Giusti, Special Correspondent | Mar 21, 2023, 9:10 AM EDT

Breakbulk shippers and logistics providers have several proposals for changes to ISPM 15 mitigation and enforcement measures pending approval from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Breakbulk shippingBreakbulk portsTransport, trade and regulation

Port of South Louisiana buys Avondale terminal as wind cargo boost looms

Autumn Cafiero Giusti, Special Correspondent | Jan 18, 2023, 2:46 PM EST

The acquisition of Avondale by the port comes just as the state of Louisiana readies to auction its first round of offshore wind leases.
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New Orleans H1 breakbulk tonnage doubles amid ‘spillover’ surge

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Aug 19, 2022, 12:31 PM EDT

Pandemic congestion may be easing as container rates fall, but breakbulk spillover cargo shows no sign of slowing at the Port of New Orleans.
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Breakbulk shippers feeling the pinch from increased detention charges

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jun 13, 2022, 9:40 AM EDT

In a hot breakbulk market, carriers are asking for — and getting — far higher detention fees to cover their potential losses when shippers delay loading or picking up their cargo.
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Houston’s port chief targets 2025 completion for big ship dredging

Michael Angell, Associate Editor | Jun 10, 2022, 11:08 AM EDT

The Port of Houston is trying to expedite a $1 billion dredging project as an ongoing surge in containerized freight shows the need for more capacity at the Gulf Coast’s busiest port.
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Outlook 2022: Houston port pushes infrastructure plans to keep ahead of growth

Michael Angell, Associate Editor | Jan 13, 2022, 10:52 AM EST

Houston is seeing a surge in imports thanks to the upsizing of vessel services from Asia as other Gulf Coast ports look for a similar uplift.
MaritimeNorth American portsBreakbulk portsDrayage

New approaches needed to stamp out breakbulk pests

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Sep 7, 2021, 8:00 AM EDT

Controlling dangerous wood-boring pests in wood packaging material will require more consistent enforcement across the US and helping the private sector learn how to look for these pests themselves.
Transport, trade and regulationMaritimeBreakbulk carriersBreakbulk ports

Breakbulk volume recovery triggers CBP invasive pest violations

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 19, 2021, 1:35 PM EDT

After a COVID-19 pandemic lull, violations of ISPM 15 regulations around dangerous insects are increasing in Houston and elsewhere, triggering costly remedies and intense frustration in the breakbulk and project cargo community.
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Houston pilots dial back ship length restriction

Michael Angell, Associate Editor | Jun 30, 2021, 8:00 AM EDT

Houston pilots said they will allow larger ships to transit the ship channel in a nod to ease a restriction that was seen as falling unfairly on the container shipping industry.
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Houston containership limit may be anti-competitive: FMC commissioners

Michael Angell, Associate Editor | Mar 3, 2021, 3:11 PM EST

The Texas legislation being questioned by two Federal Maritime Commissioners stemmed from concerns among non-container port users that the growing volume of containerships calling Houston are disrupting the ability of other vessels to transit in an efficient manner.
Container linesNorth American portsBreakbulk portsTransport, trade and regulation

US Gulf trade momentum puts focus on Houston port channel widening

Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor | Jan 7, 2021, 2:51 PM EST

Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel is looking into ways that Houston could handle larger vessels before a widening project is complete, given a Texas law that puts size limits on port calls.
North American portsBreakbulk portsTransport, trade and regulation

WRDA passage boosts Houston Ship Channel expansion

JOC Staff | Dec 22, 2020, 3:14 PM EST

Approval of the Water Resources Development Act this year includes authorization to begin spending down the more than $9 billion balance in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
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UHL expands F900 fleet, adds Houston office

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Oct 27, 2020, 4:54 PM EDT

UHL, one of very few carriers currently adding newbuildings to the multipurpose fleet, is scheduled to receive eight new F900 ships through December 2021, with the first ship scheduled for delivery in December.
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Houston first-half steel imports down sharply amid energy sector freeze

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Aug 6, 2020, 5:00 PM EDT

Falling oil prices and rising demand for wind turbines are driving the mix of breakbulk and project cargo in Houston and throughout the US Gulf.
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Houston upgrades boosted by $79 million federal grant

Michael Angell, Special Correspondent | Jun 22, 2020, 2:26 PM EDT

The latest federal funds for the Port of Houston will go to restoring 2,700 linear feet of wharf and upgrading 84 acres of yard space at Barbours Cut Terminal.
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Houston port channel widening eligible for federal funding

JOC Staff | Apr 24, 2020, 4:12 PM EDT

The need to widen the channel gained urgency last year when a group of non-container businesses that rely on the port expressed concerns their cargoes would be squeezed by the increasing size and number of container ships moving through Houston.
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Breakbulk shippers increasing ISPM 15 ‘self-mitigation’ measures

Catherine Dorrough, Special Correspondent | Mar 30, 2020, 8:02 AM EDT

With information on ISPM 15 violations still difficult to come by, shippers are investigating and educating wood packaging materials (WPM) makers, increasing requirements for heat treatments, and turning to non-WPM materials for dunnage.
Breakbulk carriersProject cargoBreakbulk ports

Houston balks at bond plan to fund channel widening

Hugh R. Morley, Senior Editor | Feb 21, 2020, 3:37 PM EST

The Port of Houston says a group of non-container stakeholders should revise its plan for the authority to float a $500 million bond for the project to widen the port channel, saying that under the plan the port would then be responsible if payments were not made.
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ISPM 15 stamp no guarantee of compliance

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 26, 2019, 9:48 AM EDT

A recent uptick in pest presence in properly treated and marked wood packaging materials (WPM) has US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rethinking its ISPM 15 enforcement policies.
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Enhanced enforcement of ISPM 15 costing US importers millions

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 25, 2019, 11:08 AM EDT

Violations of ISPM 15, which maintains strict guidelines for treatment of all wood packaging materials (WPM) to prevent the accidental introduction of invasive pests, can result in the re-exportation of entire shipments of goods and large fines, even if importers and carriers have followed the regulations to the best of their abilities.
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ISPM 15 enforcement leaves shippers with few options

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 22, 2019, 9:26 AM EDT

US importers say they face a lack of alternatives, feedback, and proactive sourcing information from enforcement officials when treated and apparently compliant wood packaging materials (WPM) fail ISPM 15 inspection.
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Phillip Brown joins SAL’s Houston office

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 1, 2019, 12:49 PM EDT

Chartering specialist leaves EPC company Fluor for Bremen-based super-heavy-lift carrier.
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