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The Port of Long Beach on Nov. 18 repealed its long-delayed Infrastructure Cargo Fee, in a unanimous vote of the Long Beach Harbor Commissioners.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.

All Port of New Orleans terminals and gatehouses resumed normal operations Oct. 7 as Tropical Storm Karen dissipated, the port said. Mississippi river traffic saw some restrictions as the storm approached, though cargo operations at the Port of New Orleans largely continued throughout (see 13100407).

Cargo operations at the Port of New Orleans terminals will stay open Oct. 4 despite the closure of the Mississippi River at Southwest Pass due to Tropical Storm Karen, the port said in a press release. "The Port is currently in Phase I of its Hurricane Preparedness Plan, which includes monitoring National Weather Service advisories and participating in frequent Port Coordination Team conference calls with all deep-draft ports, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, pilot associations, and industry stakeholders."

Containerized cargo volume at the Port of Long Beach grew 16 percent in August, versus August 2012, the port said. It said there were double-digit percentage gains in both imports and exports. That made August the busiest month for cargo at Long Beach since October 2007, port officials said. A total of 630,292 TEUs moved through Long Beach in August. Imports increased 19.2 percent to 327,817 TEUs. Exports were up by 20.2 percent to 154,118 TEUs. Empties were up 5.8 percent to 148,357 TEUs. For the first eight months of calendar 2013, cargo container volume is up 13.6 percent, including 16.2 percent more imports, 10.9 percent more exports and 11 percent more empties, the port said.

Staff at the Port of Oakland maritime facilities worked closely with local law enforcement to keep all terminals open and operating as truckers protested on Aug. 20, the Port of Oakland reported. Port communications manager Robert Bernardo said that there were 10 to 20 protestors at four locations in the port area throughout the day, including the Oakland International Container Terminal’s (OICT) east and west gates, Ports America and the AMPCO truck parking facility. Bernardo said OICT operations were partially impacted when labor claimed unsafe working conditions, but all protestors cleared away and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union returned to work at OICT before noon. However, protesting truckers still remained scattered throughout the maritime area at 4:30 p.m., “with some antagonizing drivers and impacting gate moves,” an operation update said.