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Container dwell times improved at North America’s major West Coast gateways in June despite strong volume growth amid front-loaded cargoes, and port managers say their marine terminals have both the capacity and fluidity needed to handle what’s expected to be a healthy peak season.

Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma and Vancouver registered double-digit percentage import growth in June, with volumes up 6% at Prince Rupert. Yet rail container dwell times improved from the month before, port managers said, adding that rail networks leading to key inland destinations such as Chicago and Memphis are operating smoothly.

The strong import volumes from Asia are due to several factors, including front-loading of fall and holiday merchandise and a diversion of some discretionary cargo to the West Coast from the East and Gulf coasts due to concerns about a possible strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA).

Having already handled 10 new trans-Pacific services this year while recording improved performance metrics, and with ports along the West Coast of North America operating at 50% to 80% of capacity, the gateways say they are well-positioned to handle additional diversions from the East and Gulf coasts should an ILA strike occur after the current labor deal expires on Sept. 30. Furthermore, a normal seasonal dip in import volumes is likely in November and December, giving West Coast ports an additional buffer.

As the spike in imports has developed, US ports have been sharing with BNSF and Union Pacific railroads advance information on import volumes and operating conditions at marine terminals. The railroads have responded by increasing the deployment of railcars, locomotives and additional staffing to West Coast ports, port managers told the Journal of Commerce this week.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma and its terminal operators, for example, hold daily calls with each of the railroads to share data and cargo projections, and railroads adjust their operations accordingly, said Jeff Bellerud, COO of the NWSA.

“We really get tactical,” Bellerud told the Journal of Commerce. “We’re impressed with the ability of the railroads to handle the spike.”

BNSF last month set a company record for direct ship-to-train loadings, beating the prior record that had been set in 2017 by 5%, said Jon Gabriel, the railroad’s vice president for innovation, service design and network strategy. BNSF has responded to the West Coast import growth by “surging rail cars, locomotives and crew staffing,” he said.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Angell, M. (2024, July 24). MSC restores Trans-Pacific Liberty Service with new call at Philadelphia. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/msc-restores-trans-pacific-liberty-service-new-call-philadelphia_20240724.html

Congress is moving closer to approving legislation funding ports and authorizing navigational projects at the ports of Baltimore and Oakland after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved its version Monday.

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which the House approved by a 359 to 13 vote, authorizes approximately $4.8 billion in projects, including the widening and deepening of the Baltimore harbor and the widening of Oakland’s turning basin.

The Senate’s Environmental and Public Works Committee approved its own version of the bill on May 22; the legislation awaits a final vote by the entire chamber. If the Senate bill passes, leaders from both chambers will conference to create a final bill to send to President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Most projects set for authorization through WRDA are focused on storm and flood mitigation, although the bill also includes projects focused on inland waterways.

If the bill is approved, the US Army of Corp of Engineers will have the go-ahead to widen Baltimore’s Seagirt Loop Channel by an average of 760 feet and deepen the West Seagirt Branch Channel to its authorized 50-foot depth at an estimated cost of $63.9 million. The Oakland project to widen the harbor’s turning basin and deepen the harbor to the authorized 50 feet has an estimated cost of nearly $609 million.

Both projects aim to make it safer for vessels to navigate in the harbors and reduce ship idling, cutting down emissions.

Congress takes up water resources legislation every two years and has done so since 2014.

Source:

JOC. (2024, July 23). House approves Bill Authorizing Harbor Projects in Baltimore, Oakland. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/house-approves-bill-authorizing-harbor-projects-baltimore-oakland_20240723.html

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SC Ports) has eliminated the backlog of container ships that numbered between 15 and 20 just a few weeks ago, but says it is likely some inbound vessels will have to sit at anchor over the next few months because Charleston’s Wando Welch Terminal will be operating with two berths instead of three through November owing to construction work.

The port was able to clear all the recently anchored vessels, helped by a temporary reopening of all Wando Welch’s berths last week amid a 10-day pause in the project work.

Construction work will resume July 15, again taking down a berth at Wando, but a port spokesperson said any delays will be minimal until August due to the nature of the work. Next month, customers should expect 48-hour delays getting into the port; those delays could extend into September and October depending on import volumes and progress made on the full opening of the Hugh K. Leatherman marine terminal.

“Our SC Ports team and maritime partners are working together to ensure fluidity for our customers amid this critical infrastructure project,” SC Ports CEO Barbara Melvin said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce.

The project work involves the construction of something called a toe wall, a structure that is necessary to retain the inner harbor depth at 54 feet to accommodate ultra-large container vessels. The work includes installing steel sheets along the wharf that act as a barrier to prevent sediment and soil from accumulating in the harbor and reducing the channel depth.

SC Ports also said it is in close communication with ocean carriers and customers about the progress of the toe wall work to ensure there is no “ping-pong” effect in which ocean carriers drop Charleston cargo into Savannah to avoid any potential delays.

During the pandemic, ocean carriers skipped Savannah to avoid delays and dropped Savannah-bound cargo in Charleston. The trucking community could not handle the longer drays and the result was that the delays shifted from Savannah to Charleston. SC Ports CEO Barbara Melvin has previously said she does not believe such a “ping-pong” effect will happen again because terminal operations are fluid in Charleston.

Leatherman, meanwhile, will reopen before the end of the year, according to port officials, but an official date has not been announced. If it happens before the work at Wando Welch is completed, it would put Charleston back at three operating berths again capable of handling ultra-large container vessels.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2024, July 9). Charleston clears vessel backlog, but expects some delays through November. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/charleston-clears-vessel-backlog-expects-some-delays-through-november_20240709.html

The Port of Charleston’s Hugh K. Leatherman marine terminal is ramping up operations after the South Carolina Ports Authority (SC Ports) and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) reached a settlement in a long-running dispute that has kept the terminal largely offline since its opening in 2021.

The agreement, which follows the ILA’s de-facto victory in a legal case that almost reached the US Supreme Court, gives Leatherman’s crane operators “a choice to remain state employees or become an ILA member,” SC Ports said in a statement. State employees at its other container terminals can also elect to become ILA members, or they can remain an employee of SC Ports.

The deal also effectively increases Charleston’s container handling capacity by a third at a time when the port is working to clear a backlog of five ships waiting to unload.

SC Ports said in the statement its board of directors at a meeting Tuesday approved a “framework for the transition and change in labor staffing” at the Leatherman terminal that will allow ocean carriers in the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) to call the Leatherman terminal without the threat of violating their master contract with the ILA. SC Ports said the deal creates “long-term stability and competitiveness” for Charleston.

“It is now a new day, and we must cooperatively adapt to the reality of the new labor staffing allocation,” SC Ports Chief Executive Barbara Melvin told the board of a directors, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained Wednesday. “And that means working collaboratively with the ILA in a way to get Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal reopened as quickly as possible.”

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Angell, M. (2024b, June 28). Near-normal water levels allowing more ship transits through Panama Canal. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/near-normal-water-levels-allowing-more-ship-transits-through-panama-canal_20240628.html