Port leaders Wednesday approved a contract with a Vancouver-based construction company to do what officials have wanted to do for a while: demolish an old grain silo and open up a coveted spot right on the Columbia River.
As the port continues to see steady economic growth, officials have for years wanted to take down the old grain silo so the spot near marine terminals on the Columbia River can attract new businesses. They included it in their $56 million 2023 budget approved last fall.
More at The Daily News

Gavilon has been officially rebranded as Viterra across its business in the United States and Mexico, following Viterra Ltd.’s purchase of the grains origination and storage and food ingredients business of Gavilon Agriculture Investment Inc. in 2022.
Viterra’s intent to acquire the assets of Gavilon, a wholly owned US-based subsidiary of Marubeni America Corp., was first announced in January 2022. The transaction closed on Oct. 3 for $1.125 billion, plus working capital and subject to other price adjustments.
Viterra, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, is the crop trading business spun out of Glencore in November 2020. Viterra has more than 17,500 employees operating in 37 countries.
More at World Grain

US exporters recounted shocking tales of the extremely poor service levels they received at the peak of the Asia-US demand boom from carriers that, hitherto, they had regarded as supply chain partners.
“We’ve been through some rough quarters,” said VP for logistics at New Jersey-based Fornazor International Carl Varner. “We learned where we fit in. We learnt our place.
“Our cargo was no more than a convenient backhaul for the carriers,” he said, adding that his rates had spiked by 600%. “We opened a newspaper and read about the huge profits of the carriers while they were charging us demurrage and detention charges at every opportunity.”
Now US exporters are seeing carriers approach them, cap in hand, for their business again.
More at The Loadstar

“There are only 10 ocean carriers, and they’re all foreign companies, and we’re depending on them for all of the country’s exports and imports,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition.
Friedmann said although there is healthy competition among ocean carriers right now, it will get worse again if oversight is neglected.
“Things will change where we’ll have to ensure there’s competition,” said Friedmann.
More at Furniture Today

Container dwell times at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are returning to normal with the pandemic cargo surge easing.
The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association reports that January dwell times at the San Pedro Bay ports averaged 3.2 days for local containers (truck-bound), down from a peak of 8.4 days in November 2021.
For rail-bound containers, January dwell time averaged 4.3 days, down from a peak of 16.5 days in August 2022.
Container dwell times began improving in September after nearly a year of trending upward. The improvement comes as the pandemic-related cargo surge has eased over the last several months and import volumes have now returned to pre-pandemic levels.
More at gCaptain

When grain-carrying ship ASL Uranus docked in the Port of Tacoma this month, 15 Burmese seafarers spoke up: They hadn’t been paid in full for seven months, unlike their Chinese and Vietnamese co-workers. Unions stepped in to help and ensure the workers’ safety.
“There’s no government agency in the world that’s looking after [the workers],” said Jared Faker, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 23. “So really just other workers have to look out for them.”
ITF and the Liberian flag state negotiated an agreement with Agricore Group to ensure the payment of wages and guarantee the workers’ safety after they departed the U.S.
Faker drafted letters to Washington’s congressional delegation, the Coast Guard and law enforcement in case the seafarers needed to be escorted off the ship and flown directly home for safety. The ILWU would not have waited for “all the red tape to clear” to extract the seafarers if they decided to leave the ship.
More at the Seattle Times

Fire crews responded Feb. 18 to a second-alarm fire that engulfed a warehouse at the Port of Stockton.
The structure fire, which started before 9 a.m., destroyed the warehouse at 2526 W. Washington St. on Port of Stockton grounds.
Complications from active power lines above the building kept fire crews battling the fire defensively from the outside, Stockton Fire Operations Chief Brandon Doolan said.
The warehouse was empty at the time of the fire, Doolan said. No one was inside the building, no firefighters were hurt and there was no adjacent property damage.
But the building was a total loss, he said.
More at the Stockton Record

The Port of Grays Harbor is steaming forward with a project to double the export cargo capability from its terminal in Aberdeen.
Named the Terminal 4 Expansion and Redevelopment Project, the project, termed “transformational,” will add miles of rail, update infrastructure on the pier itself, and redevelop a former pontoon casting basin on port property into a cargo yard.
“It’ll be the biggest project the port has ever undertaken,” said Kayla Dunlap, the port’s director of government and public affairs. “Prior to that, it was the rail improvements in 2011 and 2012. This is double that.”
The project is a partnership with Ag Processing Inc. (AGP), an Omaha-based agricultural company who is the port’s biggest marine terminal customer, Dunlap said.
More at The Daily World

The actions of the Puget Sound Inspector from the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) with support from members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 23 helped to protect a group of vulnerable seafarers who were being grossly underpaid and who feared for their safety after receiving threats for standing up for their rights.
On February 7th, seafarers aboard the ASL Uranus (IMO: 9317511), an ocean-going grain ship docked at an export grain facility in the Port of Tacoma, contacted ITF Inspector Jeff Engels to report that they were not being paid the proper wages.
Engels communicated with the ship’s owner and agent to secure the payment of back wages for the crew, and on February 8th, the company agreed to pay the improperly withheld wages. Engels said that before receiving their pay, the crew reported to the ITF that their families had already been contacted by the shipping line and hiring agents and told that they would need to “return the money.”
More at ITF Global
More at ITF Global

Speaking to a room of colleagues, clients and collaborators gathered for lunch at the annual State of the Port address, Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan pledged to turn the trend around.
“We anticipate fully that cargo volumes will increase by mid-year as we normalize,” Wan predicted.
In the meantime, the port has a laundry list of infrastructure projects it says are necessary for growth. It’s planning, for example, to eventually reactivate a 120-acre marine terminal that would boost its capacity. It is preparing for a zero-emission future, and applauding terminals who take steps to lower their emissions. And, it’s proposing to upgrade critical roads, pavements and rail crossings it sees as needing modernization.
More at Supply Chain Dive

Portland’s container volume was at its highest point last year since 2013, according to port figures, which count the equivalent of 171,000 twenty-foot containers passing in or out of Portland last year.
The return of container shipping in Portland is good news for dozens of longshore workers employed as crane operators, lashers, drivers and clerks. And it’s good news for importers and exporters throughout the region.
Terminal 6 now employs 50 more longshore workers each day than in 2020, and regional businesses have another shipping option close to home.
Most of the container traffic arriving in Portland is destined for somewhere in the Northwest, but Pippenger said a quarter of the containers are shipped by rail to Chicago, Kansas City or Memphis. Empty containers come back, which Northwest businesses can fill with their own products destined for Asia.
More at The Oregonian

POLB has proposed to develop the largest facility in the nation specifically designed to accommodate the assembly of offshore wind turbines.
The proposed Pier Wind facility would span up to 400 acres of newly built land, located southwest of the Long Beach International Gateway Bridge within the Harbor District.
The proposed terminal includes heavy-lift wharves supporting large cranes to receive and handle large offshore wind components and construct the world’s largest floating offshore wind turbine systems, the port said.
When completed, the fully assembled floating wind turbines would be towed by sea from the Port of Long Beach to the offshore wind farms located more than 20 miles from the coast in federal waters in Central and Northern California, where the wind is consistently strong, the port said.
More at Offshore Wind

Port officials noted that a rise in online purchases and aggressive efforts to transfer long-dwelling cargo off the docks bolstered trade moving through the Port during the first half of 2022, with monthly cargo records in January, February, March, April, June and July. And they added that consumer spending cooled by summer due to rising prices driven by inflation, while vessel transfers between the San Pedro Bay ports and a shift in imported goods toward the Gulf and East coasts contributed to a softening of cargo volume during the second half of 2022, with the easing returning the Port to normal operations by year’s end. Economists are forecasting a further decline in cargo volumes through 2023 as consumers shift their purchases to services over goods, they added.
More at Supply Chain Management Review

On Jan. 25, Port of Longview commissioners unanimously approved a nearly $330,000 project to upgrade several rail tracks after a monthly assessment revealed that some of the track was undersized and needed more stable structures.
The rail upgrade is expected to replace 1,975 feet of existing track. Commission agenda documents explain that the project will entail the removal of existing decaying wood ties and replace them with concrete rail ties, and replacing the rail with 136lb rail.
Officials said the port inspects rail infrastructure on a regular basis and has been gradually replacing its older rail infrastructure. A similar project to upgrade a different track cost around $358,000 and was approved in May of 2022 after port officials stated that it would improve the railroad’s overall safety.
More at Railway Track & Structures

The Port of Vancouver USA is just gaining momentum for what seems to be a busy and productive 2023.
“We have always been very aware of and protected our maritime business,” said Julianna Marler, CEO of the Port of Vancouver. “It’s very market driven. Say you have a good like grain, for example, and we might have a bad year of crops. We continue to look at how we diversify the commodities we handle so that we can be financial stable. We’ve done a good job of making sure we anticipate that and with that we’ve been able to maintain financial stability with the working waterfront.”
Marler said the I-5 Bridge is something that the Port will continue to work with area groups on – the Port is on the executive steering group and Marler said they will continue to advocate for freight mobility and safety.
More at the Vancouver Business Journal

For the first time, two cruise ships can now simultaneously use shore power in San Diego rather than running their diesel engines while at berth. Previously, only one cruise vessel could plug in.
The port said that having two shore power outlets at the cruise ship terminals will result in at least a 90 percent overall reduction of harmful pollutants (while the ships are docked) such as Nitrous Oxides (NOx) and Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) as well as a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Port installed its first shore power outlet at the cruise terminals in 2010.
More at the Port of San Diego

From The Economist:
On January 9th, 2022, 109 container ships sat off the coast of California waiting for their turn to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. One year later there are almost none. The easing of port traffic and the opening of other supply-chain bottlenecks have led to a collapse in freight rates from the all-time highs reached during the pandemic. The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from China to America’s west coast is now $1,400, down 93% from its peak of $20,600 in September 2021, according to Freightos, an online freight marketplace. It is roughly equal to its value in February 2020, before the pandemic struck. Costs along other major shipping routes are in retreat, too. That ought to be a relief for consumers. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimates that 40% of inflation between 2019 and 2021 was caused by supply shocks.
More at The Economist

After two years of agriculture exporters enduring “ocean carriers’ systematic neglect of exports in favor of higher value import cargo,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is offering key changes to the Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) proposed rulemaking to define an unreasonable refusal to negotiate or deal with respect to vessel space accommodations.
According to Vilsack, agricultural shippers over the past two years have continually dealt with broken export contracts, canceled bookings, inadequate receiving windows, and shortages of empty containers and other equipment. These issues, he noted, reduced prices paid to producers, compromised bottom lines for ag companies, and damaged U.S. agriculture’s standing with global customers.
After repeatedly alerting USDA, shipper and producer groups raised their concerns in comments to the FMC. Those concerns are reflected in Vilsack’s recommendations.
Beyond the issue at hand, Vilsack expressed the need for FMC to promote competition in the industry and to consider the carrier consolidation and alliances that has occurred in recent years.
Currently, three global companies, made up entirely of foreign companies, control almost all of ocean freight shipping. They have formed global alliances that now control 80% of global container ship capacity and control 95% of the critical East-West trade lines.
More at Feedstuffs

Wabtec Corp., one of largest freight and transit rail equipment and services providers, disclosed Friday it was the target of a cyberattack discovered in June The threat actor later posted sensitive data on an online leak site.
The Pittsburgh-based company discovered the attack on June 26 and following an internal investigation realized malware was introduced as early as March 15, 2022. The attack impacted the firm’s U.S., U.K. and Brazilian rail operations.
The threat actor, which was not disclosed, accessed sensitive parts of the Wabtec environment, stole data and later posted onto an online leak site, according to the company. The company said it contacted the FBI soon after discovering the attack.

Ocean Network Express (ONE) is acquiring a controlling interest in three container terminals in California as the five-year-old company moves forward with its investment strategies. Established in 2017 by three Japanese shipping companies, ONE said the acquisition of the interests in the terminals from its Japanese parent companies is part of its growth strategy and will safeguard access to terminal capacity in key and strategic gateways.
Under the terms of the definitive agreements reached between ONE and its parent companies, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), ONE will acquire a 51 percent stake in both TraPac and Yusen Terminals. In making the acquisitions ONE joins larger competitors which have also been expanding their ownership of terminals. In January, CMA CGM completed its acquisition of the Fenix Marine Services container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States.
More at Maritime Executive

From a Dec. 16 POLB news release:
The San Pedro Bay ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will phase out the option to collect a “Container Dwell Fee” on Jan. 24, 2023.
Since the program was announced on Oct. 25, 2021, the two ports have seen a combined decline of 92% in aging cargo on the docks. While the executive directors of both ports have had the authority from their respective harbor commissions to implement the fee, it was never activated because cargo owners were able to clear their long-dwelling cargo off terminals.
“This fee was conceived as an incentive to ease congestion, keeping imported goods flowing to stores across America,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero. “Measured by this standard, we can all appreciate the policy’s success, and best of all, the fee was never implemented. We thank cargo owners and terminal operators for working with us to make operations more efficient, and of course dockworkers for their dedicated labor.”
More at Port of Long Beach

U.S. logistic managers are bracing for delays in the delivery of goods from China in early January as a result of canceled sailings of container ships and rollovers of exports by ocean carriers.
U.S. manufacturing orders in China are down 40 percent, according to the latest CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map data. As a result of the decrease in orders, Worldwide Logistics tells CNBC it is expecting Chinese factories to shut down two weeks earlier than usual for the Chinese Lunar New Year — Chinese New Year’s Eve falls on Jan. 21 next year. The seven days after the holiday are considered a national holiday.
More at CNBC

The new Norton Cargo Terminal at the Port of Everett is now open.
“It’s a relief to see it has worked out the way it has,” said Nick Hoekendorf, a member of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 32. “Now, this industry can grow.”
The terminals add 40 acres of cargo capacity to the port, the fifth largest on the West Coast.
Combined with last year’s modernization at the south terminal, another $14 million is coming to the local economy.
For Hoekendorf, it’s a moment he’ll pass on to the next generation to work this waterfront.
“This helps me tell my kids that there’s still opportunity here in Everett,” Hoekendorf said.
More at KING5

Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan says the port has embarked on a plan to play to its strength as one of the leading agriculture export facilities in the world to soften the impact of COVID challenges of the past three years.
In an exclusive interview with Transport Topics, Wan says the COVID-19 pandemic caused a number of shippers to begin skipping their regular stops at Oakland because it was more profitable to unload Oakland’s cargo at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and have it trucked 370 miles north, while those ships headed back to Asia to get more cargo as rates soared in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
More at Transport Topics

The Port of Stockton received $9.63 million for the Rail Rehabilitation & Upgrade Project. The Project will improve the Port of Stockton’s lead track by replacing and upgrading approximately 13,400 feet of existing rail. “We have tirelessly been working to make improvements to the Port to ensure critical cargo is transported efficiently and safely, this grant will help enormously with the plans we’ve had in place for modernizing the Port.” – Kirk DeJesus, Port Director.
In 2021, the Port of Stockton alone generated $77.7 million in state and local taxes through its handling of 4.9 million metric tons of cargo – a 187 percent increase since 2010, making it the 4th busiest port in the state.
More at Port of Stockton

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced that a total of $71,488,445 in federal grants have been awarded to five critical ports in Washington state, including: Port of Grays Harbor, Northwest Seaport Alliance Port of Seattle, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Port of Olympia and the Port of Port Angeles.
Read more about the program and the 41 projects across 22 states here.

The Port of Portland, which oversees Oregon’s only marine container terminal, has received a $24.36 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to improve port infrastructure.
The endowment, announced on Oct. 31, by Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, will reportedly be used to strengthen and upgrade pavement used for cargo storage at Terminal 6, located near Kelley Point. The funding will also pay for a new, more energy-efficient stormwater treatment system.
“Ports are a crucial part of keeping the economies of Oregon and the Northwest moving smoothly, and we rely on them to move goods throughout our region and export our amazing Oregon products around the world,” Merkley stated in the announcement.
More at KOIN 6