The Port of New York and New Jersey said that gates at marine terminals are expected to open as scheduled on Monday (1st Feb) and that full operations are being restored after longshoremen walked off the job Friday morning (29th Jan). 

On Friday night, the leadership of the International Longshoremen’s Association, urged its rank and file members in the port to accept orders and return to work immediately..

Only 30% of cargo owners globally say they are ready to meet full compliance with new container weight verification rules that kick in next year, according to a survey by Inttra, a global intermediary in the logistics market.

The findings chime with a warning in October by the Freight Transport Association that shippers could fall foul of the new legislation if they do not verify the gross mass of containers before shipment.

The International Maritime Organization has adopted amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea convention requiring every packed export container to have its weight verified before being loaded onto a ship. The rules come into force on July 1, 2016.

The Container Trucking Association of Ontario (CTAO) has reached a tentative deal and members are expected to be returning to work.

Although rail operations have returned to normal, there will be potential delays at Toronto rail yards.

A warehouse storing dangerous goods located in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin experienced an explosion at 2330hours (local time) on August 12, 2015.

State media reports that the massive explosion caused severe damage to nearby buildings and infrastructures in Tianjin’s Binhai New Area. Roads around port areas are closed for emergency only.

As of this morning, only one of the six previously suspended Tianjin terminals, namely the Tianjin Port Euroasia International Container Terminal (TECT), still remains non-operational. The other five terminals have resumed operations.

After nine months of negotiation, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) on 20 February 2015 reached a tentative labor agreement covering the US West Coast ports.

This development has enabled terminals to begin the task of recovering from the back log of delayed vessels and cargo that were a result of over nine months of gruelling negotiations. It is estimated that it will take the industry an average of 8-12 weeks to recover from these delays and to return to a normalized operating environment.

Congestion at box ports in the Philippines could deteriorate even further in the coming months as import demand peaks. Despite a truck ban in Manila being lifted last month, backlogs had still not been cleared and demand was growing as the festive season draws near. Manila is still subject to national truck bans, which means no trucks can access the city from 6am to 9am and from 5pm to 9pm, so there is still a ban of sorts in place and this is preventing the backlog from being cleared.

Nine containerships were among 13 vessels waiting at anchor outside the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach last week because of congestion in the harbour.

The ongoing negotiations between west coast dock workers and port management has led to shipping lines warning customers to expect delays at North America terminals.

Negotiations on a new labour contract covering US west coast dockworkers look set to continue into August.

Major terminal congestion and delays at Los Angeles and Long Beach is the result of increased June volumes and rail cargo at these ports is still being affected by delays and increased dwell times whilst shippers increase their import volumes in anticipation of industrial action while talks continue.

Please be advised that vessels now arriving into China are subject to the new China 24 hour Advanced Manifest Rule. This means that manifest information has to be received and submitted at least 24 hours before vessel’s departure for cargoes destined or transhipped via China ports. Therefore all vessels now departing Europe are subject to the advanced manifest requirements.

If China have any issues regarding the quality of our data they can issue a DNL (Do Not Load), or if the vessel has departed a DNU (Do Not Unload) notice.

Containers are moving again at a more-normal volume after federal, provincial and port officials agreed four days ago to improve compensation for delivery drivers to end a six-week strike at Port Metro Vancouver. Truckers returned to work on Friday and truck throughput was more than 80 percent of normal.