Port News

The deepening of Charleston’s harbor will enable the port to handle larger vessels that are carrying growing volumes of imports from Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent to the US East Coast.

The Transnet-UNTU agreement will put pressure on South Africa’s second-largest dockworker union to agree to a deal after it rejected a proposal over the weekend.

Europe’s container imports from Asia have weakened, but hubs in the region are battling ongoing port congestion that is set to last into next year.

Breakbulk tonnage has risen at Port Houston’s City Docks facility after the global oil price shock linked to the Russia–Ukraine war prompted an increase in active oil rigs in Texas.

While retailers normally divert some discretionary cargo to ports on the East and Gulf coasts in years when the ILWU and PMA negotiate a new contract, the shift away from the West Coast has been particularly dramatic this year.

The anticipated Q4 slowdown in Savannah and Charleston follows a busy summer for the two ports, with combined laden imports rising 9 percent year over year in the third quarter.

As vessel congestion in California eases, the state is looking to further invest in infrastructure projects that will modernize ports and keep goods moving throughout the state.

South Africa’s state-owned terminal operator said Thursday it has offered striking dockworkers a wage package that includes a 15.1 percent pay increase over three years.

Software vendor Portchain will help a DP World-operated terminal in the Port of Antwerp to automate communication from shipping lines to better coordinate berth plans, the companies said Wednesday.

Port operations in Liverpool continue to be heavily disrupted by escalating strike action, with no signs either party is willing to compromise in an increasingly bitter pay dispute.

Major container lines serving Indian trades, including MSC and Maersk, have advised exporters they will begin charging a new freight tax that went into effect Oct. 1.

Port of Wilmington operator GT USA saw a major shake-up of its board as insider directors were ousted amid rising operating costs and loss of a major lawsuit.

Container throughput at Liverpool has fallen, and with the decline in volume expected to continue through the year the port is planning to cut its headcount.

The Port of Houston is weighing whether to hit shippers with an additional fee if they let their import containers dwell for excessively long periods as terminal space remains tight.

New detention and demurrage legislation in California will protect cargo interests, truckers, and freight intermediaries from some charges they say are unjust.

The Port of New York and New Jersey is close to releasing a revamped tariff that recalculates how it will levy a $100-per-container fee on ocean carriers who let empty boxes linger.

Two retired US Navy admirals are recommending that the national security impact of the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal ballpark project be considered more seriously.

The ports of Tampa Bay and Jacksonville were closed to all vessel and truck moves as of midday Wednesday as major Hurricane Ian approached the west coast of Florida.

A jurisdictional dispute between the ILWU and the machinists union over jobs at Terminal 5 in Seattle has become a major snag in West Coast contract talks between the ILWU and waterfront employers.

The ILA is planning to work on local contract talks as it seeks to avoid any disruptions on the East and Gulf coasts that could derail negotiations over extending the master contract ahead of the current deal’s 2024 expiry.

The Port of Portland is on pace to recover approximately half of the volume it once handled.

Slowdown tactics employed by the ILWU last week reduced cargo handling productivity in Oakland and Seattle-Tacoma and come as the union and waterfront employers continue to negotiate for a new contract.

The Georgia Ports Authority is lowering the number of empties carriers can store at its terminals and increasing fees for storing empties that exceed those allotments.

Shanghai International Port Group will begin construction on its new 11.5 million-TEU container terminal at the world’s busiest port complex next month, with completion expected in 2030.

Congestion is easing along Canada’s rail networks and at inland rail hubs in Toronto and Vancouver, and this is translating to declining rail container dwell times at the Port of Vancouver.

Cosco Shipping wants to make Hamburg a strategic transshipment hub for North Europe, but German regulators have yet to approve a minority terminal stake in the port.

A tentative contract agreement between security guards represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers in Los Angeles-Long Beach eliminates one possible source of cargo-handling disruption.

The move to allow for transshipment cargo from Bangladesh via barge and short-sea container ships builds on a previous carve-out for cross-border trucking and rail services.

Port terminals in Alexandria, Sokhna, Port Said, and Damietta are edging closer to full utilization, prompting operators to expand existing facilities and build new ones.

The Port of New York and New Jersey has seen an uptick in empty container sweeps by ocean carriers after its decision to impose a tariff aimed at empty boxes lingering in the region.

Freight forwarders warned that shippers could face weeks of delays due to back-to-back typhoons that have battered China, while blank sailings are rising ahead of the Golden Week holiday.

A veteran of the US chassis market says “a lot more capacity” will be arriving into the sector to help relieve the shortages that have contributed to delays throughout the country’s supply chain.

Although West Coast longshore labor and management in July announced progress in the form of an interim agreement on health benefits, headway in recent weeks has been minimal on what are considered far more difficult issues.

Typhoon Muifa is expected to make landfall in the Shanghai-Ningbo area Wednesday, just over a week after another storm forced the ports to close, delaying services for ocean carriers.

Runaway inflation has driven up union pay demands that employers are unwilling to meet, escalating industrial disputes in several sectors across the UK.

Terminal operator PSA has officially inaugurated its Tuas terminal, which will consolidate container handling operations from Singapore’s four existing terminals.

Departures from Shanghai and Ningbo are expected to face a two-day delay after a typhoon hit coastal areas of eastern China over the weekend, while some Busan services were also disrupted.

While the security guard contract is separate from the coastwide longshore deal being negotiated, officials are working feverishly to avoid a strike, given the possibility that dockworkers would honor any picket lines, thus shutting down affected terminals.

Just days after dockworkers at the UK’s largest container port ended a strike, laborers at the Port of Liverpool set the dates for their own walkout, the latest industrial action hitting Europe amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis.

Technology intended to help shippers and forwarders manage arrival notice information might be the solution that federal regulators are seeking to bridge data gaps from carriers and terminals.