Modern Terminals' Da Chan Bay Terminal One in Shenzhen, China, has gone live with the Navis N4 terminal operating system, said manufacturer Navis. N4 will allow the terminal to improve operations and productivity, it said. DCB is one of the most recent container terminals built in Shenzhen. Modern Terminals' larger site in Hong Kong is scheduled to go live with N4 in mid-2014, it said.
The Transportation Department's Maritime Administration is seeking comments about renewing an information collection requirement before it approves transfer of ownership of a port facility, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Nov. 29. It said it needs the information to determine if the applicant is committed to the redevelopment plan, the plan is in the public interest, and that the property will be used in accordance with the terms of the conveyance and applicable statutes and regulations.
A symposium on best practices for ports and military to address gaps in national domestic response capability is scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 3 at the Port of New Orleans,1350 Port of New Orleans Place, New Orleans, organizers said. The best practices are to be part of a template to be shared by America's strategic military base and port communities, they said. Additional information: rjwyatt@wyattcgi.com.
The geographic extent of the impacts of Panama Canal expansion will depend on the capacity of individual U.S. ports and their related infrastructure to handle shifting trade flows, the response of shipping companies to port and inland infrastructure capacity development, and the adaptation of supply-chain management methods, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration on the impact of Panama Canal expansion.
The Port of Cleveland board approved the Cleveland-Europe Express freight shipping service between Cleveland Harbor and Europe via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which will begin in spring 2014, it said Nov. 21. The service is under a charter agreement with The Spliethoff Group. William Friedman, CEO of the Port of Cleveland, said the service will allow regional companies to ship their goods up to four days faster than using water, rail, and truck routes via the U.S. East Coast ports.
The Port of Long Beach on Nov. 18 repealed its long-delayed Infrastructure Cargo Fee, in a unanimous vote of the Long Beach Harbor Commissioners. The fee, put in place in 2008 but delayed ever since, would have been imposed on each cargo container to help fund road and rail improvements around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The Port of Los Angeles also never collected the fee and also voted to repeal it in September.
The Long Beach Port Commission failed to postpone the Infrastructure Cargo Fee (ICF) during a Nov. 4 commission vote that resulted in a 2-2 failure to proceed, confirmed Long Beach Port spokesman Lee Peterson. The motion voted on would have postponed the fee until Jan. 1, 2016. The fifth Long Beach Port Commissioner was not present to vote. The fee is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, potentially hiking port usage rates for importers and exporters.
The South Carolina Ports Authority handled 413,818 20-foot units (TEUs) from July through September, an increase of 3.3 percent over the same quarter last year, the port said Oct. 15. During the period 458 ships called on SCPA facilities, which represents a 4.8 percent increase over planned levels. SCPA currently has seven post-Panamax ship calls per week, it said.
Cargo traffic at the Port of Baltimore screeched to a halt Oct. 16 as International Longshoremen Association union workers went on strike, according to press reports. The Baltimore Sun reported that all cargo at the port is affected, and no ships are being worked on (here). Fox Baltimore said all services at the port have been suspended except for mail, which cannot be affected during a strike (here).
The National Retail Federation expects import volumes at major U.S. container ports to grow by 9.1 percent in October over the previous year, despite the federal government shutdown, it said in its monthly Global Port Tracker report. The forecast is based on merchandise orders placed before the shutdown as retailers prepare for the holiday season, it said. NRF is predicting holiday sales in 2013 will grow by 3.9 percent over last year. Most holiday season merchandise is brought into the U.S. in August, September and October, NRF said, with those three months accounting for over 25 percent of total annual retail imports.