Ports

Freight forwarder sources in India believe the success of a fourth round of general rate increases scheduled for Aug. 1 will hinge on the ability of carriers to hold firm on recent pricing gains.

A weak global economy and limited demand in Europe has set the continent’s largest port on course for a second year of declining volume.

Part of the new dynamic on the waterfront reflects wider transportation labor activism where rail, aviation, trucking and longshore workers have achieved or are seeking to achieve substantial enhancements in pay and work rules, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The fall hid some upbeat trends, with the number of refrigerated containers rising more than 10% in the first half and the rate of decline in overall volumes easing in the second quarter.

Brunswick’s growth comes amid rising automotive production, pent-up consumer demand and an easing of the semiconductor shortage that occurred during the pandemic.

Forwarders, shipping lines and trucking interests are advising their customers it will take weeks — possibly into September — for operations at Prince Rupert and Vancouver to return to normal.

A union of construction equipment operators in New Jersey alleges the International Longshoremen’s Association sought to take away marine terminal work it was hired to perform.

The end of the strike comes less than two days after Canada’s Minister of Labour ordered the federal mediator overseeing negotiations between the union and employers to provide recommendations for a settlement.

The new trade pattern reflects in large part a sharp drop in empty equipment imports amid weakening demand conditions, rather than sustained export trade, industry observers say.

If ILWU Canada or longshore employers reject the recommendations of a federal mediator, the next step will be for the Canadian government to reconvene Parliament, which is on summer recess, to address the situation.

The doom and gloom regarding cargo diverted away from the US West Coast during recent labor strife may have been excessive, as importers are not eager to permanently adopt higher-cost routings when a reliable lower-cost option with reasonable service exists, writes analyst Larry Gross.

The International Longshoremen’s Association says it is willing to wait as long as it takes to control the jobs it believes belong to the union at South Carolina’s new Leatherman terminal.

With the strike by ILWU Canada now in its 11th day, some C$7.5 billion in Canadian imports and exports has been compromised thus far, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association says.

Delaware’s Port of Wilmington received an improved offer from a stevedoring firm to take over operations, but the bid faces a challenge from Holt, who claims the search process was unfair.

The ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland will use the grant money for infrastructure projects that will promote more efficient freight movement as well as emissions-reduction efforts to meet clean-air goals.

ILWU Canada and employers are engaging with federal mediators as a backlog of vessels builds outside of Vancouver and Seattle-Tacoma as the Western Canadian dockworker strike enters its second week.

The problems flared in recent weeks after Ocean Network Express shifted a vessel service out of Jacksonville’s other primary container terminal, Dames Point, causing a volume imbalance between the two terminals.

 The carrier is the target of another shipper complaint regarding demurrage and detention fees, this time the indirect result of empty container congestion at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

The Global Port Tracker says prospects for a recession in the second half of the year are dimming and imports should increase as consumer demand ticks up and retailers reduce the inventory overhang that has kept warehouses full over the past year.

Although there remain multiple obstacles to further legislation being signed into law, bipartisan support that shipping reform attracted in 2021 and 2022 has led to a situation in which certain additional provisions stand at least a 50-50 chance of being enacted this year, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Deeper public-private sector collaboration between global maritime industry players and the MPA will unlock key investments across the Indian and Pacific oceans, Lloyd’s Register believes.

The strike by ILWU Canada, which entered its sixth day Thursday, is expected to have an increasing impact on Canada’s trans-Pacific trades if it drags into next week and beyond.

Ocean Network Express said container operations on three vessels were affected by the disruption, but that loading and unloading had now been completed.

The global port operator is bolstering its multimodal supply chain capabilities with an investment that increases its already significant presence in the region.

Canadian business groups are pleading for Parliament to return to Ottawa and pass back-to-work legislation to end the ILWU Canada strike, but it will likely take days for the upper and lower houses to pass such legislation, if they heed the call.

The US Department of Transportation is funding infrastructure projects that include carbon neutralization plans, updating miles of century-old rail and improving port access roads.

The pressure is on the Trudeau government to use its political capital to force a deal between employers and longshore workers at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert after the latter began a strike Saturday.

Vessel on-time performance in the eastbound trans-Pacific is improving at West Coast ports, but slipping somewhat along the East Coast.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is generally viewed within the Canadian shipping industry as having acted too slowly — and weakly — when containerized supply chains were significantly disrupted over the last three years, notes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Despite the subdued market environment, the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges expect rising volumes to place significant demand on capacity and vessel traffic management, prompting investment in both areas.

The union filed a 72-hour strike notice, which includes the Port of Vancouver, claiming maritime employers have refused to negotiate on the main issues of compensation and automation.

The funds will come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with three separate grant opportunities soliciting applications under a single program called the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant program.

With most new trans-Pacific service contracts in effect only since late May, container lines are already nudging shippers to meet their minimum quantity commitments instead of taking advantage of spot rates that have been cratering for approximately three weeks, sources say.

The legislation comes less than two weeks after West Coast waterfront employers and the ILWU struck a tentative deal for a new labor contract after 13 months of contentious talks that saw the union slow down port operations on numerous occasions.

Scrutiny of China’s access to US maritime data is rising, with a US congressman targeting China’s state-sponsored shipping platform in a Defense Department budget amendment.

Carrix, the parent company of terminal operator SSA Marine, said it has agreed to buy Ceres Terminals for its exposure to container business going to the US East and Gulf coasts.

The major eastern US drayage provider is looking to expand its footprint to California and the Pacific Northwest before the end of the year, markets where its major competitors already operate.

After two attempts to push through GRIs largely failed, forwarder sources in India believe it will be difficult for carriers to achieve success under current tight booking conditions, but liners have nonetheless lined up further rate hikes.

A combination of softer volumes and increased vessel capacity continues to drag on spot rates between Latin America and the US, but forwarders say they expect demand to begin to recover in September.

There’s growing concern among some US exporters that outbound container spot rates are too low, recalling memories of when unprofitable cargo was left on the docks and service levels fell in parallel with the bottom lines of ocean carriers, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.