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Although Hapag-Lloyd announced the completion of its merger with Chilean carrier CSAV on Dec. 2, it must still navigate the rocky shoals created by the two carriers’ combined losses and heavy debt load.

Throughput at Port Everglades jumped 12.5 percent in October, newly released port statistics show.

The idle container ship fleet crept up slightly over the past two weeks but remains at a record low, according to Alphaliner.

Shippers and ocean carriers, left reeling from months-long congestion and berthing delays at India’s largest container port complex, Nhava Sheva (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust), are unlikely to get a break in the near future, as the port authority has been forced to push back an equipment modernization program by a month following delays in the arrival of new gantry cranes.

Changes to truck driver hours of service rules under the cromnibus spending bill could increase truck capacity, giving carriers a quick productivity boost for the holidays.

It's been called the final frontier for trade growth — the only place in the world where exponential economic and cargo growth is still possible and major trade is still evolving. Rising African container volumes are increasingly showing the limits of freight infrastructure on both the East and West African coasts, where ports are experiencing trouble dealing with the rise in ship calls and freight volume.

NVOCCs and forwarders will be required to submit house bills of lading to China customs when the country's advanced manifest system is implemented in March.

The port of Antwerp faces a total shutdown on Monday as dockers and other waterfront workers join a 24-hour nationwide strike that will also paralyze rail freight and air cargo traffic across Belgium.

The container throughput counter at Ningbo-Zhoushan port clicked over to 20 million TEUs at midnight last night, effectively sealing its place as the world’s fifth busiest container port and relegating Korea’s transshipment hub Busan to sixth place.

Spot rates on the major east-west trades rose sharply this week, reflecting the Dec. 15 general rate increases that will be levied on a market that shows little interest in helping carriers push up prices for any sustained period.

One of the effects of larger vessels being deployed is that transshipment hubs will see fewer vessels making calls, but they will stay for longer and generate more container volume, a trend that is becoming more evident in Hong Kong.

The $80 million acquisition of an Australian courier company by SingPost subsidiary Quantium Solutions (Australia) last week was all about securing last mile capability in a fast growing market, a critical component of the e-commerce operation.

As large LTL carriers and international shippers begin to develop density-based pricing alternatives, the classification system still dominates LTL costing and, by extension, pricing.

The ongoing congestion plaguing U.S. West Coast ports is forcing shippers to re-examine their supply chains with an eye to building in more safeguards against shortfalls in product imports.

Aqaba Container Terminal, Jordan’s only container port, apologized for delays caused by a worker strike last week, which left nearly 10 days worth of container traffic stranded.

Hapag-Lloyd is conferring with its partners in the G6 Alliance on plans to order larger container ships in the next year, but even as it does so the need for bigger ships may be changing because of the recent drop in bunker fuel prices.

Global air cargo revenue will rise to $63 billion in 2015 from an estimated $60 billion this year, but will remain roughly 5 percent lower than in 2010, according to the International Air Transport Association.

A massive federal spending bill is poised to get U.S. port funding closer to a set schedule over the next decade but will still come short of the target.

Opposition by Democrats and some Republicans to the $1 trillion, rider-festooned spending bill is keeping Washington on edge as the legislation nears a midnight deadline.

EUROGATE Container Terminal Bremerhaven this week handled its 1 millionth standard rail container, as more intermodal trains served the German gateway this year than in 2013.

Terminal operator DP World said it will lock out dockworkers at Australia’s Port of Fremantle for 24 hours next week in the latest move in an increasingly bitter labor dispute.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has joined a New Jersey state senator in calling for abolition of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

A former International Longshoremen’s Association local president and an ex-pier supervisor were sentenced to prison this week for their roles in a long-running extortion racket that funneled workers’ “Christmas tribute” to the mob.

Spot rates for dry van trucks jumped 5 cents in the week after Thanksgiving, the biggest leap for spot truckload rates since July, as strong freight demand kept trucks rolling toward the holidays.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection pilot project that allows shippers to reimburse the agency for additional staffing during normal hours and overtime work could help seaports deal with the growing threat of congestion.

The number of containers handled at major ports in India climbed 8.32 percent year-over-year from April through November, the first eight fiscal months, continuing an accelerating growth trend that leaves state-owned port authorities on track to meet annual throughput targets.

Growing domestic consumption in China has seen four companies expanding their Global Logistic Properties warehousing space by 700,000 square feet in six locations across the country.

APL Logistics is moving closer to the checkout queue with three companies reportedly on the shortlist to buy the NOL Group logistics unit, one based in Korea and two U.S. firms.

Twenty-one days after leaving the east China manufacturing city of Yiwu more than 8,000 miles away, a freight train carrying 40 containers arrived in the Spanish capital of Madrid this week, potentially opening yet another land bridge between China and Europe.

A model for improving truck turn times is emerging at ports on the West Coast of North America, involving a coordinated effort by marine terminals to open their gates at night and on weekends, and to spread out truck traffic through appointment systems with predictive analytics.

The relentless drive by container lines to reduce their per unit carrying costs through deployment of modern mega-ships means that the automation of marine terminals is inevitable. But each automated terminal will be tailored to the individual needs of the operator based on cost, volume and type of operation.

GCT Bayonne expects to pilot the Port of New York and New Jersey’s first truck appointment system in the first half of 2015, a terminal executive said at the 2nd annual JOC Port Performance-North America conference.

Moody's Investor Service today upgraded its outlook for U.S. ports from negative to stable for the first time in five years, on the back of rising U.S. container volumes.

U.S. port congestion delays are starting to cost shippers money — and customers in some cases.

David Adam, chief negotiator for U.S. East and Gulf Coast waterfront management, challenged employers and the International Longshoremen’s Association to consider changes to their bargaining process before their next contract expires in 2018.

USA Truck is opening a brokerage office in Jacksonville, Florida and expanding its Chicago presence as shippers seek additional truck capacity.

Maersk Line will implement a general rate increase and peak-season surcharge totaling $1,000 per 40-foot container on cargo heading from Asia to the U.S. and Canada starting Jan. 15, the carrier announced today.

Some ocean carriers are raising terminal-handling surcharges about 70 percent on Jan. 1 for calls at ports in Thailand, and shippers are bracing for other carriers to follow suit.