A membership ratification vote for a new contract for clerical workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit is scheduled for Feb. 6, the union said. The tentative agreement was reached after an 8-day strike ending Dec. 4 (see ITT's Online Archives 12120534).

Facing yet another deadline for a contract agreement for East/Gulf Coast longshoremen, shippers are again beginning to make contingency plans. Contract talks were continuing under the auspices of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service (see ITT's Online Archives 13012927), with the latest deadline for an agreement of Feb. 6. Neither the International Longshoremen's Association nor the U.S. Maritime Exchange is providing any details of any progress in the talks.

Negotiations between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Exchange continue, with a current deadline of Feb. 6, officials said. Talks are still being overseen by the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service. "A lot of shippers' livelihoods [are] on the line if a strike occurs," said Matt Parrott, A.N. Deringer director of transportation (here).

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners said Kinder Morgan Canada Terminals signed long-term contracts for the $112 million Phase 2 construction of an additional 1.2 million barrels of merchant storage capacity at Trans Mountain Pipeline's Edmonton terminal in Strathcona County, Alberta. Construction is to begin this spring, with completion expected in late 2014. Construction of Phase 1 of the expansion, which consists of 3.6 million barrels of new storage, is underway and expected to be in service in late 2013.

The International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance "made progress" during three days of negotiations Jan. 15-17 in New Jersey on a new East/Gulf Coast contract, said Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George Cohen in a statement. He said the parties "have agreed that the negotiations will continue under our auspices,” but provided no additional details.

Port of Los Angeles officials broke ground Jan. 16 on a new intermodal storage railyard connecting the port and the Alameda Corridor. When completed, the $137.7 million Berth 200 rail project will move cargo more safely and efficiently, reduce truck traffic on roads and freeways and improve regional air quality, officials said. It also will enable track space at the TraPac container terminal to serve as TraPac's future on-dock rail facility.

Cargo container volume grew 18.9 percent in December at the Port of Long Beach, compared to a year ago, the port said. Port terminals handled a total of 560,120 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) overall. The port said December 2012 capped a surge that made up for the year's lackluster start, with 2012 volume ending up in a virtual tie with 2011. The container growth came as more ocean carriers added services to Long Beach in recent months, including CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co. Import container traffic rose to 295,579 TEUs, up from 248,603 in December 2011. Exports rose 4.9 percent to 135,561 TEUs for the month. Empty containers slowed 2.4 percent to 128,980 TEUs. For the full year, the Port moved a total of 6.05 million TEUs, down 0.3 percent from 2011. Imports were up 1.2 percent to 3.06 million TEUs. Exports were up 2.2 percent to 1.54 million TEUs. And empties were down 5.6 percent to 1.44 million TEUs.

Container volume at the Port of Charleston was up 9.6 percent in calendar year 2012, reaching 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), said the South Carolina Ports Authority. Volume was up 13 percent in December compared to the same month last year, to 124,120 TEUs. Breakbulk pier tonnage in Charleston and Georgetown also was up in 2012. Charleston handled more than 1 million tons of non-containerized freight over the past 12 months, up nearly 26 percent from the previous year. In Georgetown, activity for the calendar year was up 17 percent, to 532,472 pier tons handled.

Parties to the longshoremen talks that resumed Jan. 15 had little to say about the negotiations for a new East/Gulf Coast national contract. U.S. Maritime Exchange Chairman James Capo told us only that the "talks are ongoing" and a spokeswoman for the New York Shipping Association said only that "contract talks on the master contract are ongoing." The current deadline for a resolution is Feb. 6 (see ITT's Online Archives 13011038).

The non-profit company created by port terminal operators in Los Angeles and Long Beach, PierPass, announced an initiative to reduce the number of transaction problems experienced when trucks pick up or deliver containers at the marine terminals. The "trouble tickets" cause substantial delays in container movement through the terminals, it said, and about 5% of all transactions at terminals result in trouble tickets, on average adding about an hour to the "turn time."