Tag: <span>US Ports</span>

The Port of Houston is reducing the free time given to refrigerated container imports at its marine terminals because shippers continue to leave reefer cargo past the port’s allotted grace period.

The Board of Commissioners for the Port Houston Authority approved Monday a change to the terminal tariffs that will reduce the free time for a refrigerated container to four days from the current seven-day period in place for all containers. The policy change comes as reefer imports, while still a small part of the port’s business, grow faster than Houston’s dry cargo imports.

The tariff change will take effect May 1. Reefer shippers will still have an additional three days of free time available if a container requires an inspection by US Customs and Border Protection or the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In asking for the tariff change, Chief Port Operations Officer Ryan Mariacher said the move would align Houston’s policies with how other ports handle refrigerated containers.

“This supports the shippers that need to expedite the handling of these commodity types,” Mariacher said. “We want to be a transit facility, not a storage facility.”

Mariacher did not say how long refrigerated containers are dwelling at the port. But in June 2025, when the port approved a higher rate of demurrage on refrigerated boxes, he said some shippers had been leaving their reefer shipments at the port for a week or more.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

Long Beach, California — Port and marine terminal executives say they have a plan to minimize disruption during the two-year redecking of a key bridge at the entry of the Los Angeles harbor that includes keeping truck gates open longer and on weekends.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will close the 63-year-old Vincent Thomas Bridge, which handles about 53,000 vehicles a day, including 3,400 heavy-duty trucks, in one direction from March 23 to Nov. 1, followed by a complete closure through November 2028.

In addition to extra truck gates, port stakeholders in Los Angeles have been working with Caltrans for two years to develop and improve a detour route of surface streets that connect with major Southern California freeways. Local police agencies will provide continuous traffic control to respond to accidents and other events that disrupt traffic flow.

A system of more than 40 Caltrans cameras — and more than 700 cameras throughout the ports’ six container terminals — will provide real-time information on traffic conditions, enabling terminal operators to respond immediately to delays, according to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.

With 6,000 to 8,000 trucks operating in the harbor every day, an open line of communication among Caltrans, terminals and truckers will be crucial to ensuring minor disruptions don’t turn into prolonged congestion, said Matt Schrap, chief commercial officer of Forum Mobility and former CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association (HTA).

The HTA must now impress upon ocean carriers the need for additional free time for container storage at the terminals if traffic disruptions related to the $1.5 billion redecking project delay pickups, he added.

In the meantime, the port will continue to push its proposal to construct a new, taller bridge that would allow super-post Panamax vessels to call the Yusen Terminals, TraPac and West Basin terminals, Seroka said.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

The Port of Houston will open a new berth in December at one of its two container terminals, bringing it a step further to be able to handle up to five post-Panamax vessels simultaneously.

Port Houston Authority said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce Tuesday that it expects to complete Wharf 7 at the Bayport Terminal this December, nearly two years after construction began. Cranes for the new wharf are expected to arrive in March 2026, with the port planning to use Bayport’s existing crane fleet in the interim.

The 1,000-foot wharf will allow Bayport to service five post-Panamax ships at once, up from four currently. Port Houston said the new wharf will “decrease the anchor wait time for vessels, allowing for quicker turnaround time for our customers.”

The work at Bayport coincides with ongoing work to expand the Houston Ship Channel to allow two-way traffic for post-Panamax vessels. Port Houston expects to complete widening of a five-mile portion of the Houston Ship Channel between the Bayport and Barbours Cut container terminals by the third quarter of 2025, with the full project done by 2029.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

Fragmented union bargaining and government backstops during contract talks are factors behind the longshore strikes and other labor unrest that have gripped Canada’s West Coast ports during the last two years, a report commissioned by the Labor Ministry report has found.

The report, released Thursday, suggests British Columbia’s longshore unions need to bargain with employers on a province-wide basis, rather than a port- or employer-specific basis, to avoid further unrest that jeopardizes Canada’s supply chains. It also urged early government intervention to head off strikes.

The 156-page report, which was commissioned by the Labor Ministry and developed by Canadian labor relations experts Vincent Ready and Amanda Rogers, looks into the labor disputes that have hit British Columbia’s ports. It was commissioned in July 2023 by Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon after longshore workers rejected a contract proposal that led to a 13-day strike at Vancouver and other Canadian West Coast ports.

The inquiry found that while “there exists a mature bargaining relationship among the parties, it is far from healthy, and is marred by ongoing conflicts, misaligned priorities and a fiercely protectionist stance by the union.”

Mike Leonard, president of the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), said in a statement that if the report’s findings are put in place, it “will advance long-term stability at Canada’s West Coast ports to the benefit of all parties.”

ILWU Canada could not immediately be reached to comment on the report.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

US ports face almost $7 billion in tariff costs under the Trump administration’s proposed levy on Chinese container cranes, according to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), which has joined other stakeholders in calling for a delay to allow a domestic crane industry to develop before cutting China out of the market.

AAPA delivered the estimate in prepared comments ahead of a hearing on Monday on the new tariffs at the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The USTR in April unveiled the proposed tariffs on Chinese-made cranes, containers, chassis and similar equipment as part of its one-year-old investigation into China’s dominant market share of the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries.

The investigation, begun under the Biden administration at the request of several US trade and manufacturing unions, has already resulted in a new tariff to be assessed on Chinese ships and ocean carriers calling the US beginning in October.

AAPA said 44 of the 55 cranes currently on order by US ports are being made in China. Over the next 10 years, US ports need to purchase another 151 container cranes, with 121 of those due to come from China, AAPA said.

Those current and future orders total about $2.5 billion, AAPA said. If the tariffs on container equipment — up to 100% — are added to existing tariffs on Chinese imports, US ports will pay $6.7 billion in tariffs, according to the group.

As an example, AAPA said the Port of Houston is scheduled to receive eight cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), China’s leading manufacturer, in the spring of 2026.

Houston would be forced to pay $304 million in tariffs on that order if the fees are imposed, AAPA said, adding “that means over $300 million not invested in infrastructure projects at one of the nation’s largest ports.”

AAPA asked that any cranes ordered before April be exempt from the tariffs.

“American ports need these cranes now, but they simply cannot afford [the] unexpected costs,” AAPA said. “They cannot back out of these purchases.”

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: the JOC news

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) have approved a new six-year master contract covering US East and Gulf coast ports that not only includes a hefty raise for all dockworkers but an even higher salary bump for new hires. The new contract is retroactive to Oct. 1, 2024, and will be in effect until Sept. 30, 2030. It will be signed in the next two weeks.

While the union secured further protections against automation, maritime employers won room for efficiency gains through remote operation of terminal equipment and the use of operator assistance technology at ports.

The ILA said late Tuesday that a majority of its 45,000 registered members ratified the new contract that was tentatively agreed to in early January between union leadership and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

ILA President Harold Daggett said in a statement the contract, which involved three years of negotiations and a three-day strike last October, is a “gold standard” for labor thanks to its wage and benefit increases and protections against technology that could impact labor.

“The ILA stayed strong and unified throughout and successfully won the greatest contract in ILA history and maybe the strongest collective bargaining agreement ever negotiated by any union,” Daggett said.

The ILA highlighted the 62% wage increase as measured against the contract’s top wage tier, equating to an average $4 per hour raise for all dockworkers during the contract’s term. But the contract also includes other wage concessions that mean the lowest-paid longshore workers will receive even larger percentage wage increases.

The starting wage for first-year longshore workers goes from $20 per hour to $27 under the new six-year agreement. By 2026, the starting wage will increase to $30 per hour. The new contract also includes four wage tiers instead of the six under the previous master contract, allowing longshore workers to climb up the pay scale faster.

A marine terminal source familiar with the new contract says that the higher starting wage means a 35% increase for new longshore workers in the first year alone.

The contract is expected to be formally signed on March 10.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, February 26). Ila ratifies new six-year deal with higher entry pay, automation protection. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/ila-ratifies-new-six-year-deal-with-higher-entry-pay-automation-protection-5951338

Marine terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey are seeing bouts of severe congestion due to a variety of factors that include heavy import volumes, holiday scheduling and bad weather. The congestion is currently making it difficult for truckers to return empty containers and puts shippers at risk for late fees on empty returns and import retrievals.

Hapag-Lloyd said in an operational update Monday that “ongoing terminal congestion in the New York/New Jersey area [is] impacting carriers, terminals, depots, truckers and customers industry-wide.” The ocean carrier said it is looking for additional storage sites for containers and waiving late fees on boxes in the hope that “fluidity will be restored in the coming weeks.”

Hapag-Lloyd’s advisory follows a poll released last week by the New Jersey-based Association of Bi-State Motor Carriers that showed close to two-thirds of drayage truckers believe the empty return situation at the port is a “crisis that must be addressed immediately.”

“Marine terminals are packed to the gills with empties,” Bi-State Motor Carriers President Lisa Yakomin told the Journal of Commerce.

The majority of truckers polled by Bi-State said they are unable to get appointments to return empty containers or complete a “double move” to retrieve an import container due to restrictions on returning empties.

Most truckers also reported that shippers are incurring extra chassis charges and late fees for storing empties and the congestion is hampering truckers from retrieving imports.

The congestion hits as the NY-NJ port comes off a strong year of growth. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) reported 11% year-over-year growth in import volumes for 2024, its busiest year since 2021.

The volume of imports at the port appears to have built up strongly last month, crowding out room for empties. The average weekly inventory of import containers at NY-NJ reached 31,933 in January, compared with about 25,000 in both December and November, according to PANYNJ data.

The dwell time on import containers averaged 3.9 days during January, up from an average of 3.5 days during December and November. The standard terminal tariff at NY-NJ provides four days of free time on an import, suggesting shippers are running closer to incurring demurrage due to the delays.

Details please refer to JOC news.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, February 11). Stakeholders say choked NY-NJ marine terminals creating delays at port. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/stakeholders-say-choked-ny-nj-marine-terminals-creating-delays-at-port-5942356

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) next week is expected to start a month-long process of selling its members on the new collective bargaining agreement with maritime employers. The process ends two years of fraught labor negotiations and now ensures six years of labor peace at US East and Gulf coast ports.

Three sources familiar with the situation have told the Journal of Commerce the ILA will convene a midweek meeting in Florida of its local wage scale committees across the 14 ports under its jurisdiction.

The meeting will be called to review terms of the six-year agreement on a new master contract after four days of talks in New Jersey.

The wage scale committees will then present terms of the coastwide master contract, along with port-specific contracts, to local union members. A full vote by the roughly 45,000 registered ILA members at East and Gulf coast ports is expected to take place near the end of February, with March the first full pay period under the new agreement.

The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) board of directors reportedly approved the contract during a vote Wednesday, according to the sources.

Both the ILA and USMX declined to comment on the ratification process.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, January 31). ILA officials to meet next week as ratification of USMX deal looms. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/ila-officials-to-meet-next-week-as-ratification-of-usmx-deal-looms-5934580

 

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) late Wednesday said they have reached a tentative agreement on a new master contract that covers ports from Maine to Texas. While the deal needs approval from ILA locals and USMX members, it avoids another port strike and ensures shippers of labor peace along the US East and Gulf coasts for the next six years.

The ILA and the USMX said in separate statements the agreement includes language that covers the contentious issue of port automation and new technologies. While the draft language of the tentative agreement was not available, one source said that marine terminals will have some leeway in implementing new technologies in return for more longshore jobs.

Talks on a new master contract broke down in November due to the union’s concerns about the impact on jobs from the use of semi-automated rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) at marine terminals.

“This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coast ports — making them safer and more efficient and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong,” the statement said.

Details of the agreement were not publicly disclosed, pending final approval by both sides.

The deal was reached a week before a Jan. 15 strike deadline that was set in October at the end of the three-day ILA strike that was settled with an agreement on wages.

The 45,000 dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports will work under the current contract until the tentative agreement is ratified by the wage-scale committees of local unions. But sources indicate that the locals are likely to support the contract negotiated by ILA President Harold Daggett and Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett.

The breakthrough came after four days of talks in Teaneck, New Jersey, on a new master contract. Those talks included side discussions on the impact of new technology on longshore jobs, ahead of broader talks that restarted on Jan. 7 that covered benefits and specific longshore crafts such as checkers and clerks.

In December, the union enlisted President-elect Donald Trump to advocate on behalf of their stance against automation. On Wednesday, the ILA issued its own statement thanking Trump for his “bold stance [that] helped prevent a second coastwide strike.”

“President Trump clearly demonstrated his unwavering support for our ILA union and longshore workers with his statement ‘heard round the world’ backing our position to protect American longshore jobs against the ravages of automated terminals,” Harold Daggett said in the statement.

Source:

Angell, M. (2025, January 8). Ila, USMX reach tentative deal that avoids another port strike. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/ila-usmx-reach-tentative-deal-that-avoids-another-port-strike-5919519

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) are set to resume talks for a new master contract on Jan. 7, sources said Tuesday.

The scheduled resumption of negotiations leaves a small window before the current contract extension runs out on Jan. 15 and a likely second strike by the ILA hits ports along the US East and Gulf coasts.

The ILA and USMX declined to comment on the status of talks that affect 45,000 dockworkers.

While the ILA and USMX have come to terms on wages for a new master contract, the formal negotiations have stalled since mid-November. The union and maritime employers remain stuck on what provisions the new master contract will include about port automation.

The ILA has taken a hard line against automation technology at ports under its jurisdiction. It singled out semi-automated rail mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) as a technology that it wants to bar from further implementation at East and Gulf coast ports under the new contract. The USMX countered that technology, including RMGs, boosts port productivity and creates more opportunities for longshore workers.

Progress on the talks have been further complicated by the attention of President-elect Donald Trump, who sided with the ILA’s stance against automation.

Source:

Angell, M. (2024, December 31). Ila, USMX contract talks set for Jan. 7 restart ahead of strike deadline: Sources. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/ila-usmx-contract-talks-set-for-jan-7-restart-ahead-of-strike-deadline-sources-5913854