The port authorities involved believe the current total is good enough for now, but how long that remains the case, and what action they would take moving forward, depends on several factors.

Market share remains in the single digits —both as a percentage of overall reefer imports and exports in the US and overall volumes within the individual ports — but the port authorities of Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia say the US Department of Agriculture clearance will open the door to even more business opportunities.

It’s still too soon to evaluate the flat-fee system, but so far it has not caused a surge in daytime traffic. What’s more, front-loading that’s increased volume, owing to the threat of US tariffs, has maintained night volume, or as one key trucking official put it, “You show up to get the container when you can get the container.”

With the completion of a dredging project by the end of the first quarter of 2019, the Port of Philadelphia will have the depth needed to attract larger ships with considerably more cargo — the first phase of a $300 million port upgrade.

The sale could be one of the largest terminal deals ever, dwarfing the $2.4 billion sale of OOIL's terminals on the US East Eoast and in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006.

The two sitting commissioners on the US Federal Maritime Commission on Thursday voted to allow the PierPass 2.0 extended gates program featuring a flat-fee pricing model to take effect.

The terminal operator at the Port of New York and New Jersey is implementing several measures after a month of longer-than-reasonable turn times for truckers.

The port's primary facilities at the west terminal sustained relatively minor damage; it was a "mixed bag," the port's executive director said, including lost doors, canopies, and skylights, and some damage to the port's container terminal.

Brunswick is the second-busiest roll-on, roll-off port in the United States by tonnage, and although tariffs have affected trade, the upward trajectory remains intact regarding 2019.

The port may find its modest salary compared with other port directors and nuanced politics may challenge recruitment.

The port said it is working with Maher Terminals and Port Newark Container Terminal, the two terminals in the port that use straddle carriers, to create a vehicle that would be programmed to recharge itself after making a certain number of container moves.

Ports and regions are devising creative and needs-specific solutions to container shipping's chassis issue — a longtime bottleneck/trouble spot in the supply chain. Here is the Port of New York and New Jersey's progress.

At issue is an effort by port employers to have deskbound longshoremen monitor the temperature of each reefer twice a day to ensure that it is at the correct temperature, instead of longshoremen physically walking up to each box, checking, and documenting the temperature on an iPad.

“This is the reality today. We must focus on service levels to make sure terminals are fluid,” Steve Balaski, senior business development manager for containers at the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma, told the recent Western Cargo Conference of freight forwarders and customs brokers.

The chaos of the trans-Pacific peak season has set the stage for tough annual service contract negotiations in the spring between container lines and US importers from Asia.

Last year, a hurricane stalled resin exports from the Gulf Coast. This year, rising trade tension between the US and China threatens one of resin’s largest markets.