Maritime

   The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has received 49 ocean transportation intermediary license applications and changes for review.     The FMC received non-vessel-operating common carrier license applications from ABF Global Supply Chain, Fort Smith, Ark. (Carlos Martinez-Tomatis, division vice president); Action Cargo Transport, Carolina, Puerto Rico (Jose E. Del Cueto, president); AIT Ocean Systems, Itasca, Ill. […]

   Hapag-Lloyd reported a loss in the first quarter of 119.1 million euros ($163.4 million) compared with a loss of 93.6 million euros in the first quarter of 2013, and noted the result reflects the takeover of CSAV’s container business.

   The Army Corps of Engineers has permitted construction of the Houston Port Authority’s Bayport and Barbours Cut channel improvement projects, and approved the federal assumption of maintenance of the channels when construction is completed.    The improvement projects at the port’s two container terminals will deepen the channels from 40 feet to 45 feet, […]

   Liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. will consolidate its activities at the Port of Antwerp’s Deurganck dock on the left bank of the Scheldt river. The Antwerp Port Authority said the transfer is needed to allow further expansion by MSC.

   BlueGrace Logistics, which operates on a franchise model, is making a push to expand in the New York market.    The process for obtaining a franchise with the company consists of several in-depth interviews, a face-to-face visit with the corporate team in Tampa, Fla., and one-on-one consulting with an existing franchise owner in the […]

   “The company does not rule out the possibility of deepening cooperation agreements with other players in order to achieve greater stability, both in fleet and in service coverage,” CCNI’s chairman, Beltran Felipe Urenda Salamanca, said.

   U.S. steel exports experienced a significant rebound in March, though they remained below the levels of a year earlier, according to U.S. government data analyzed by the American Institute for International Steel.    “Following a dip in February, when many parts of the United States were still suffering the impact of a harsh winter, […]

   The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday determined that there’s a “reasonable indication” that a U.S. industry is harmed by sugar imports from Mexico that are allegedly subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.    Chairman Irving A. Williamson and Commissioners Dean A. Pinkert, David S. Johanson, Meredith M. […]

   “Lake Superior’s ice was so challenging that the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards had to convoy freighters the entire month,” the Lake Carriers’ Association said, noting that vessels couldn’t cross Lake Superior unescorted until May 2.

   Non-vessel-operating common carrier Shipco Transport has opened a new office in Chongqing, China.    Consolidations from Chongqing will route through the NVO’s Shanghai gateway.    “China’s focus is moving west in recent years, with the great Moving West strategy led and encouraged by the government. More and more, world-leading manufacturers are moving to the […]

   The much-anticipated negotiations on a new contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and their employers at 29 West Coast ports, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association, started Monday. 

Latin America’s growth is attractive, but carriers to the region face potential for overcapacity.    In January, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced the government’s “Look South” Initiative focused on increasing U.S. trade with 11 Latin American economies with which the United States has free trade agreements: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, […]

Businesses that control freight have leverage to keep down additional costs.    Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF), an umbrella organization of shippers groups such as the National Industrial Transportation League (NIT League) in the United States, said it will organize a new global campaign to confront what it says are “unsubstantiated shipping surcharges, terminal charges and […]

   While not the sole cause, lack of adequate infrastructure to keep up with the rapid growth in container traffic in Latin America is one of the contributing factors to corruption at some of the region’s ports, said Thomaz Favaro, an analyst at the consulting firm Control Risks and co-author with Niels Lindholm of a […]

   As representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association negotiate a new labor contract to replace the one that expires July 1, shippers say they should be thinking about how to make the ports more productive over the long term.    “A good contract, in my view, would be one […]

   Is an offshore drilling rig — a vessel so large that it cannot pass through the Panama Canal — “merchandise” subject to the Jones Act’s restriction that cargo transported between two domestic points be carried on ships built and registered in the United States and crewed by Americans?    Yes, said a federal judge […]

   The Kuwait-based logistics and infrastructure company Agility said it had a net profit of 11.24 million Kuwaiti dinar ($40 million) in the first quarter of 2014, 11 percent more than in the same 2013 period.    Revenue for the quarter was 314.28 million dinar, 11 percent less than in the same 2013 period.    […]

   Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe vowed to shipping representatives of the Hampton Roads port area that he will raise the state’s East Coast ranking in agriculture and forest products exports from fourth to first place by the end of his term. 

   London-based Drewry has created a product that it says will allow shippers to share information about trends in contract shipping costs.

   LNG container ships are coming to the European short sea trades.    The Finnish short sea operator Containerships Ltd Oy, GNS Shipping/Nordic Hamburg, and ARKON Shipping said Wednesday they have ordered dual-fuel engine-technology container ships that will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) but will also be able to burn conventional marine diesel oil/heavy fuel. […]