Port News

Eighteen Republican members of Congress said the remedies laid out as part of the US’ investigation into China’s maritime dominance are unworkable for farmers, notably a port tax on Chinese vessels and the requirement that an increasing volume of US exports be shipped on US-flagged vessels.

For Singapore-based PSA, the investment cements a beachhead in a West India market primed to benefit from Asian trade diversification and burgeoning consumer demand.

While the Gemini Cooperation is hitting its schedule reliability goals, Hapag-Lloyd’s chief executive said fully unwinding its former carrier alliance and dealing with terminal congestion in some locations are providing challenges.

The change to a more freight-all-kinds strategy comes as ongoing contracts for the 2024–25 service year bundled with penalty clauses have proved to be problematic for keeping customer relationships intact.

The terminal operator says buying the railroad that connects ports on the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic sides fits into its overall strategy of offering more services to shippers.

Forwarders say they are seeing utilization only near 50% on the Asia-Mexico lane amid seasonally low demand and tariff uncertainties.

In creating the threat of a clearly significant penalty, the US Trade Representative essentially forced observers to not merely give a thumbs up or down to the proposal, but to offer alternative solutions.

The move comes as Hutchison is facing increasing pressure from the Chinese government over the $22.8 billion sale of its ports business outside of China to BlackRock and TiL, especially the Panama ports.

Donald Trump’s latest tariffs targeting the auto sector have put key ro/ro ports on alert as they face a “chilling effect” on volumes.

Excess capacity and waning US import demand caused in part by tariff uncertainty could put further downward pressure on drayage pricing in the second quarter.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

Brent Sadler served in the US Navy for 26 years and now works as a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Major carriers had lined up rate increases with the intention of strengthening their bargaining power during service contract negotiations, but overcapacity seems to have kept that tactic in check.

Capacity improvements at the New Jersey facility will include optimization of the terminal layout, rebuilding berths at a higher level to allow for anticipated increases in the sea level and replacing existing cargo-handling equipment with zero-emission, electric machines.

The top 10 carriers for imports collectively hauled 2.43 million TEUs into the Gulf Coast last year and had a market share of almost 94%, according to the latest Journal of Commerce rankings.

Cosco said changes in the shipping alliances this year will trigger competition in digitization and decarbonization.

US maritime interests said the proposed fees on Chinese ships would hit a variety of low-value, niche trades that can’t absorb the costs.

MPV industry experts call for exemptions to US port taxes for China-built ships, stressing the lack of alternatives for specialist cargo carriage and the unfair burden on responsibility on the sector.

A deal between the Northwest Seaport Alliance and the Native American Puyallup Tribe will result in a 22-acre, two-berth terminal completed by the end of the decade.

A group of seven Asia-based regional carriers are collaborating to add a weekly long-haul service on the eastbound trans-Pacific despite bearish market signals.

The growing backlog of boxes awaiting a return to Asia has resulted in finger pointing among stakeholders over how best to address the problem.

Canada’s labor minister will take a direct hand after the mediated talks for a new longshore contract at the port failed to achieve a deal after 18 months of negotiations.

Montreal’s port chief says a successful outcome after nearly two years of talks between port employers and the longshore union will be critical to restoring shipper trust.

Despite the month-over-month downturn, Los Angeles-Long Beach volumes were higher than a year ago as Southern California’s freight boom did not begin until the second quarter of last year.

The long-term agreement calls for the ocean carrier to add seven services with 10 weekly calls to Brazil’s largest port over the next two years.

Running loops with fewer ships will not be the current priority for an oversupplied industry, but new entrants may be more inclined to look at a lean, efficient product that has a competitive service edge in the key hubs it serves, writes Jeremy Masters.

The port will berth vessels at its smaller Ocean Terminal two miles downriver from the main Garden City terminal in order to cut waiting times outside the port and reduce ship backlogs.

Ports across the continent are struggling to clear bottlenecks as containers stack up in terminals and delay inland and feeder connections.

The country’s competition watchdog is reviewing whether DP World’s acquisition of the logistics provider could lead to higher costs for shippers.

A commentary published in a Hong Kong state-backed newspaper said the acquisition of Hutchison’s Panama assets by BlackRock and TiL would “Americanize” the canal and cause Washington to restrict Chinese access to the waterway.

The Dubai-based terminal operator’s end-to-end supply chain strategy is paying dividends with strategic investment in forwarding services attracting business from high value verticals.

The National Retail Federation now says it expects a downward shift in the second quarter as importers face challenges from tariffs and elevated inventories in the wake of significant cargo frontloading.

Zim’s decision to keep more capacity available for spot rather than contract business on the trans-Pacific allowed it to capitalize on the expanded deployment of capacity on the trade.

While the 15-month-old Red Sea crisis is ever present, ocean carriers and their customers are also now navigating the vagaries of the trade policies and proposals of the Trump administration.

After raising rates in anticipation of higher volumes, several top carriers have now dropped spot booking rates from West India to North Europe by between $300 and $500 per container, according to freight forwarder sources in Mumbai.

Reshuffling port calls because of a potential Trump administration fee on Chinese-built and -operated ships would place additional strain on the US intermodal supply chain, railroad executives say.

As a top tier of mega carriers has emerged through consolidation and organic growth, so has the need of those carriers to align their dominance on the ocean with capacity at ports.

European governments and the European Commission will carry out regulatory reviews to assess the level of market concentration MSC will have with the planned takeover of Hutchison’s port assets, with divestitures likely on the table.

Across all the terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach, average rail dwell times peaked at just under 10 days in October, according to the Pacific Maritime Shipping Association.

The arrival of the first vehicle imports in five years has sparked renewed interest in the country’s auto shipment potential.