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.

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).

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.

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."

The Port of San Diego swore in new board officers for 2013. The chairman is land-use attorney Ann Moore, who represents Chula Vista on the Board of Port Commissioners. In addition to Moore, Commissioner Bob Nelson, one of three San Diego representatives on the seven-member board, was sworn in as vice chair, and Commissioner Dan Malcolm, representing Imperial Beach, was installed as secretary. Moore said her theme this year is “a Port for All,” which encompasses Integrated Planning -- an approach that considers planning in context with surrounding areas -- and including stakeholders in the port's decisionmaking process.

Low water levels in the upper reaches of the Mississippi River aren't affecting operations within the Port of New Orleans because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has maintained the congressionally authorized 45-foot-deep channel on the lower part of the river from Baton Rouge, La. to the mouth of the river, the port said. “We do not anticipate any interruptions to deep-draft shipping or cruise operations,” said Port President Gary LaGrange. All of the port's berths are at 100 percent of their authorized depths and no restrictions on the Lower Mississippi River are anticipated, he said. Liquid and dry bulk commodities, which rely on barge transport, are the main cargoes concerned with low river levels in the Midwest, the port said. Draft restrictions on inland barge traffic in the Midwest could make barge transit pricier for growers, producers and manufacturers. The primary area of concern is stretches of the river between St. Louis, Mo., and Cairo, Ill., where the Corps of Engineers continues to apply all available resources to maintain a navigable nine-foot-deep channel for barge traffic, the port said.

The deadline for settling the East/Gulf Coast contract between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Exchange was extended to Feb. 6, the parties said shortly after a partial agreement and extension was announced Dec. 28 (see ITT's Online Archives 12122823. They said the further extension was "in view of the year-end holiday season" (here). In a note to union members, ILA President Harold Daggett said "the ILA made major gains on the Container Royalty issue that will protect our ILA members" (here).

Grain-handling longshoremen were reportedly returning to work Dec. 27 under the terms of the grain companies' latest offer, which they had earlier rejected. Meanwhile, negotiations for East and Gulf Coast longshoremen apparently continued at the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, as business interests that use the ports prepared to meet with the Department of Transportation Dec. 28 to urge the Administration to intervene.