Port News

Forwarders say intra-Asia pricing is strengthening amid congestion-based blank sailings and strong demand, and carriers are marshalling another round of peak season rate increases.

Maritime employers and the longshore union representing dockworkers along the US East and Gulf coasts will restart negotiations in New Jersey next month, with automation the main issue at hand.

McBeth, who passed away last week at age 83, was remembered as instrumental in the development of the Prince Rupert container terminal.

Shippers and forwarders are reporting slowdowns at several inland gateways that are linked to seasonality, equipment placement, labor disruption and carrier behavior.

The agency said it has secured more refunds and waivers for shippers in disputes with ocean carriers over detention and demurrage charges, with more investigations pending.

Beth Ann Branch is taking the reins as New Orleans develops the $1.8 billion Louisiana International Terminal, which will allow the port to service ultra-large container ships.

The Port of Montreal’s maritime employers warn that even a brief strike will add to shipper uncertainty over routing cargo through the port given other recent job actions taken by the union.

UP’s CEO Jim Vena, during the railroad’s Q3 earnings call, appeared to take a shot at ocean carriers for not informing landside stakeholders sooner about the heavy volumes that landed along the West Coast in recent months.

The ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board said union longshore foremen moved too late in raising the issue of automation’s impact on jobs at the Port of Vancouver.

A report from the US Governmental Accountability Office shows the possible, but narrow, path for adoption of automation at US ports as maritime employers and longshore labor along the East and Gulf coasts attempt to hammer out a new master contract.

The move comes as container shipping affiliate Cosco Shipping Holdings is expanding services between China and Thailand and as overall shipping capacity is growing between the two countries.

A rise in consumer spending in Europe has kept volume at the port in positive territory so far this year, but full vessels and “peak loads” are keeping pressure on terminals and inland connections.

Market sources say cargo leaving ports in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay is being delayed because ships bound for those ports are arriving from the US with disrupted schedules following the Oct. 1-3 strike.

The Belgian hub says it now handles almost one-third of the container trade in the busy Hamburg-Le Havre port range.

The US Department of Transportation’s latest round of infrastructure grants also target port-adjacent roadways, berth expansions and yard equipment electrification.

The carrier will exit the 2M Alliance next January and has been on an acquisition spree over the past year to shore up its global logistics and container terminal operations.

The country could be on the verge of undoing legislation that abolished cabotage restrictions, saying the boost received by foreign-flag carriers has come at the expense of local shipping interests.

Despite its brevity, shippers can expect to see ongoing impacts on tonnage supply on some trade lanes from the Oct. 1-3 strike, Lars Jensen told the South Carolina International Trade Conference.

The group, comprising ONE, HMM and Yang Ming, said the changes apply to two trans-Pacific services and an Asia-Mediterranean service.

The port’s main container terminals are among the facilities affected by the overtime strike that Montreal’s dockworkers have deployed as part of contentious contract negotiations.

Forwarders say their containers are sitting at some terminals for 10 days or longer before they can be retrieved, although some relief in import volumes and dwell times is expected next month.

Barbara Melvin says 2024 hit Charleston in unexpected ways, but the full reopening of the Leatherman terminal was a major achievement for the port’s future expansion.

While longshore wages will not increase until a formal contract is signed, the container shipping industry is starting to tally up the billions in new costs that will come with the almost 62% wage hike, according to a Journal of Commerce analysis

The port reopened on Saturday after engineering firm Woolpert performed a survey to check for storm debris in shipping channels.

DP World’s group chairman and CEO had initially ordered the cancellation of Monday’s announcement after being angered by comments made last week by two UK government officials.

The move comes after two UK government officials sharply criticized the March 2022 mass layoffs at DP World subsidiary P&O Ferries while launching new legislation to protect seafarer rights.

Carriers began pulling the charges shortly after the end of the strike was announced last week, while pressure to do so came even earlier from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Some have speculated that specific issues were raised that persuaded at least some of the carrier group CEOs to direct their representatives on the USMX to boost their offer of a pay increase.

Port officials say their facilities did not experience widespread flooding but are still being affected by power issues, adding that port tenants will make independent decisions on when to resume their operations.

The huge import volumes that moved across US docks in August are also muting the post-Golden Week bounce that normally occurs in mid-October when retailers ship their high-value holiday merchandise through the West Coast.

Vessels are waiting just over two days on average before getting into the harbor in the wake of last week’s ILA strike and Hurricane Helene in late September.

Local freight forwarders say carriers on the trade lane are willing to strike special rate deals with large-volume customers on a per-sailing or short-term contract basis.

With no improvement in the Red Sea security situation and shippers preparing for 2025 contracts, Gemini has jettisoned the traditional shorter route in favor of the longer transit around southern Africa.

If ports operated by ILA labor were for decades a dependable alternative to those reliant on the ILA’s perpetually disruptive West Coast counterpart, the ILWU, that assumption no longer holds true, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Eight ports that are working toward “just-in-time” port calls provided their experiences of improving quality around vessel-terminal data sharing.

Last week’s three-day longshore strike on the East and Gulf coasts is not expected to disrupt transportation supply chains ahead of the traditional beginning of the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said.

The union’s refusal to work overtime has prompted Montreal’s employer group in turn to decline to pay longshore crews that do not have a full complement of workers.

With the 62% wage increase being an unprecedented offer to the union, the USMX will be hard-pressed to give in on other key demands the ILA is making, sources tell the Journal of Commerce.

Ports on the US East and Gulf coasts say they have spare capacity and expect minor disruptions as they process more than 60 ships backlogged by a three-day strike

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach registered their best year ever in reducing emissions, but they still face daunting challenges as they strive to reduce pollution that remains from vessel, cargo handling, truck and rail sources.