About 14,500 rank-and-file members of the International Longshoremen’s Union who work at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts are voting today on whether to ratify a new six-year master contract.
Strike at Hutchison container terminal in Hong Kong continues as government steps in to try to resolve problems between 500 dockworkers and employers, with service providers suggesting strike is affecting cargo operations
The United States Australasia Discussion Agreement said its members have adopted a guideline calling for a general rate increase of $200 per 20-foot container and $40 per 40-foot container on cargo moving via U.S. West Coast ports to Australia and New Zealand, effective June 1. The members of the agreement are: CMA-CGM, Hamburg Sud, […]
Drewry is forecasting that companies in the container shipping industry will have a collective operating profit (earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT) of $6.2 billion in 2013, compared to $280 million in 2012. Referencing its Container Forecaster report, Drewry said “carriers themselves are the biggest risk to this forecast. While there are […]
Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM will launch a new service between the Mediterranean and the U.S. East Coast service in June. Hapag-Lloyd said the new MAS service will use ships with approximately 3,500 TEUs of capacity and “supersede the present slot charter arrangement on this route.” The lines did not specify how many ships […]
The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday reported U.S. exports of goods and services in February reached $186 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion from January. Imports of goods and services also increased slightly, by $61 million, to $228.9 billion. As a result, the trade deficit improved, decreasing to $43 billion in February from […]
Shusen Wei, 45, a citizen of China, pleaded guilty Friday in Miami federal court to charges stemming from his involvement in the smuggling of a carved rhinoceros horn from the United States to China, the U.S. Justice Department said. Wei entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga, who scheduled […]
Hong Kong’s High Court has extended an injunction first obtained April 1 on striking dockworkers, barring them from entering container terminals in Kwai Chung where the port’s container terminal is located.
“Given that market conditions are extremely fragile, we believe that, to keep the industry in the black, leading container operators will have to maintain stringent capacity management and pricing discipline,” the rating agency said.
Consolidators International (CII) and the Swiss forwarding company Cotrafi-Gondrand Tahiti have signed an exclusive agreement for the Los Angeles-based company to handle air and sea freight from the United States to the islands of French Polynesia. Each company will act as an agent for the other in cooperating sales efforts and operations in […]
CSAV, the Chilean container shipping company, said it will invest $570 million in its business, building seven new ships and paying back a $258 million loan at a steep discount. The company said it will buy seven 9,300-TEU ships that will be built by Samsung Heavy Industries. When the ships are delivered, the company […]
The White House has not named a political nominee since former Commissioner Alan Bersin departed about 15 months ago. Career agency officials have continued to push through organizational and programmatic reforms.
Six U.S. government agencies on Wednesday joined together to kick off a new pilot program to expand federal export assistance to small businesses. The program, U.S. Global Business Solutions, hopes to add 50,000 small businesses to the nation’s exporter base by 2017. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills said the pilot program will […]
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has entered a new marketing partnership with the state of Illinois to help the Midwest state’s businesses boost export sales and jobs. The so-called Ex-Im Bank’s City/State Partnership with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) gives thousands of exporters, especially small businesses, access to information about […]
Brian Conrad, TSA executive director, doesn’t expect the westbound transpacifc trade in terms of rates and volumes to change significantly because of the merger. The market “is still going to be driven by basic market fundamentals,” he said.
Evergreen Marine Corp. said it had a profit of 128.5 million New Taiwan dollars (NT) ($4.3 million) compared to a loss of 3.1 billion NT in 2011. The world’s fifth largest container carrier said in an income statement provided to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that it had operating income last year of 16.2 […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today said it’s withdrawing approval of the import and sale of up to 74,000 gas-powered on-and off-road motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles from China. EPA issued the vehicle certificates from 2006 to 2012 to two companies which operate as Snyder Technology and Snyder Computer Systems (doing business as Wildfire […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced recent results of the agency’s efforts to support exports of U.S. agricultural products, and they’re expected help increase exports of U.S. cattle, poultry products, and pears by over $85 million a year. APHIS noted the opening of export markets to […]
Along with previous funding, Georgia has allocated $231.1 million toward the state’s portion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, which will deepen the harbor from 42 to 47 feet to accommodate the biggest box ships.
The agency announced Saturday that Richard A. Lidinsky Jr. has resigned as chairman and Commissioner Mario Cordero of Long Beach, Calif., who joined the FMC in June 2011, will take his place, starting April 1.
