APM Terminals said a push to improve efficiency at its marine terminals was successful last year with crane lifts per hour – a key indicator – improving “no less than 8 percent” across all its facilities in 2012. The company, part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, has an objective to improve efficiency 15 percent within two years […]
The Pacific Northwest grain terminal operator said its decision was based on evidence that shows two significant attempts to sabotage export equipment were carried out by a member of ILWU Local 4.
What this past year has taught the shipping industry is just how powerful unionized dock labor on both coasts has become in the United States and how much of the country’s economy it holds in a tight grip. These unions — namely the International Longshoremen’s Association on the East and Gulf coasts and […]
Suez routings to U.S. East Coast increase with bigger, more efficient ships. By Chris Dupin As work continues on the expansion of the Panama Canal, fuel has gotten extremely expensive and big containerships very common. One of the results is a growing amount of cargo moving between East Asia and North America’s east coast […]
The Port of Savannah soared into prominence in the container shipping business back in 1984, when Malcom McLean, then head of United States Lines, made the Georgia seaport, along with New York, one of the two “load centers” for his new “round the world” service operated with a dozen 4,246-TEU “Econships,” vessels designed with […]
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a homeowner who said his floating home was not a vessel and therefore not subject to arrest under maritime law. (Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Fla. No. 11-625. Jan. 15.) The majority opinion authored by Justice Stephen Breyer concluded a structure does […]
In a summary order, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a 2011 decision by the District Court for the Southern District of New York confirming an arbitration award issued by a panel of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators. (NYKCool A.B. v. Pacific Fruit Inc. 2nd Cir. 11-4246-cv. Jan. 16.) The arbitration panel […]
Forget the Great Wall of China and mighty Amazon River, NASA has posted an image on its Global Climate Change Website that shows global shipping routes can be seen from space because of the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted by ships traveling along them. “Just how much shipping contributes to overall NOx emissions remains […]
Speed is “an underestimated factor in the current supply-demand balances in shipping,” said Petter Haugen, an industry analyst at DNB Bank in Oslo. Speaking late last year at a conference organized by Marine Money on the subject of slow steaming (or “speed optimization,” his preferred term), Haugen said high bunker costs have turned […]
Despite Maersk Line’s decision to start rerouting its TP7 service through the Suez instead of the Panama Canal, 13 of the 32 liner services that used the waterway as of last October were Asia-U.S. East Coast strings, according to information presented by Rodolfo Sabonge, executive vice president of planning and business development for the […]
Liner carrier Maersk has announced a general rate increase that will go into effect April 1 on cargo moving in dry containers between the Mediterranean and the United States and Canada. The increase for westbound cargo is $250 for 20-foot containers, $350 for 40-foot containers, and 40-foot and 45-foot high cube dry containers. […]
A proposed law, H.B. 1719, that would force the ports of Seattle and Tacoma to employ drayage truck operators to move containerized cargo, was approved 5-4. The bill may be put on the state’s calendar for a second reading.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will start inspecting cantaloupe packinghouses, specifically targeting Listeria, during the 2013 growing season to assess current industry practices and identify unsanitary conditions that may result in consumer health risks. The agency will also continue to target imported cantaloupes at the border for sampling and may “engage in other […]
The European Shippers Council has proposed that problems related to misdeclared container weights can be dealt with through better exchange of information between shippers and container liner companies.
Toyota said Tuesday it will begin exporting U.S.-assembled Venza autos to Russia and the Ukraine via the Port of Brunswick, Ga. Colonel’s Island Terminal at the Port of Brunswick handled a record 612,489 auto and machinery units in 2012, up from 497,404 units in the previous year. Toyota is a new client for the […]
Transit times eastbound from the Mediterranean to South Korea and China have improved by about seven days, as vessels will no longer slow steam one week on the return leg between Hong Kong and Busan.
The British Columbia port said increasing the number of trucks with GPS transponder units “will provide an even more accurate, real-time base of data enabling greater insight to routing, operational and congestion information.”
Lars Jensen, chief executive officer of the Danish maritime research firm SeaIntel, said his firm expects 48 super-post-Panamax vessels to enter Asia-Europe trade in 2013, and for some existing vessels in that trade to cascade into the transpacific. SeaIntel’s most recent Sunday Spotlight newsletter takes a look at those deliveries on a detailed […]
The Singapore-based carrier said it had a net loss of $98 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to a loss of $320 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Revenue in the quarter was $2.5 billion in 2012.
Assisted by improved results from its container shipping subsidiary Maersk Line, the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group reported improved profit in the fourth quarter and for the whole year 2012 when compared to 2011. Reporting results in U.S. dollars, the Danish conglomerate said it had a profit of $965 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $273 million […]
