The contracting phase of the Port of Miami project to deepen its channel to minus 50 feet has begun with the solicitation of bids by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it said. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2013 and be completed in time for the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in early 2015.

Import cargo volume at U.S. ports is expected to increase 9.9 percent in October as merchants finish importing holiday merchandise, said the monthly Global Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. U.S. ports followed by Global Port Tracker handled 1.42 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in August, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available, up 6.7 percent from July and 3.3 percent from August 2011, it said. It estimated September at 1.49 million TEU, up 8 percent from last year, and October is forecast at 1.45 million TEU, up 9.9 percent. Since most holiday merchandise will be in distribution centers by the end of October, monthly cargo volume will drop off for the remainder of the year but will remain above 2011 levels, the report said. November is forecast at 1.32 million TEU, up 2.4 percent from last year, and December is forecast at 1.28 million TEU, up 4.6 percent. After the holidays, January 2013 is forecast to stay at 1.28 million TEU, down one-half of 1 percent from January 2012, and February is forecast at 1.19 million TEU, up 9 percent from a year earlier.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Sustainable Terminal Services,Inc. are each investing $808,875 to bring Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to the port, they said. Additional funds will be provided through a federal grant, they said. RFID will allow the Port Authority and its terminal operators to clearly identify each vehicle serving the port facilities, and to know the content of containers coming to and from the port and the identities and backgrounds of the people transporting and handling the cargo, they said.

The JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, opened to jumbo container ships this month, officials said. Over $1 billion was invested in the project, which will ensure Germany's handling of jumbo container ships well into the future, they said.

Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi launched commercial operations with Navis' advanced terminal operating system SPARCS N4, the company said. The technology was already operational at the Abu Dhabi Terminal-operated Mina Zayed.

Energy-efficiency, ballast water management and ship-recycling rules will be key issues for the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting Oct. 1-5 at IMO Headquarters in London, it said.

Port credit ratings are likely to remain resilient in the face of an East Coast longshoremen's strike, Fitch Ratings said in a new report. It said the potential remains for a work stoppage at the end of the 90-day extension period, (see ITT's Online Archives 12092101, but contingency plans at potentially affected ports have envisaged 10-15% cargo diversion over a month or so of stoppage, which is well below throughput losses modeled in Fitch's rating case scenarios for ports. That, plus the levels of liquidity maintained by ports and the fixed rental payments generally seen as the main source of revenue for ports, would minimize the credit impact expected from any future work stoppage, the report said.

Fitch Ratings assigned an 'AA-' rating to the Port of Authority of New York and New Jersey's $2 billion consolidated bonds and affirmed the authority's existing debt, it said. Fitch cited resilient cash flows and stable revenue base, high degree of rate-setting flexibility, and conservative capital structure.

Extending the longshoremen's contract for 90 additional days was agreed Sept. 20 by the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Exchange, representing shipping and port interests, said Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service Director George Cohen after talks closed Sept. 20. The extension is until Dec. 29, he said.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners gave a $36.8 million construction contract for the "Green Port Gateway" railroad project, which is to enhance the Port of Long Beach's capacity for "on-dock rail," cutting down on truck traffic and air pollution, it said. Construction could begin as early as November and is expected to continue until July 2014, the port said. The contractor is Ames Construction Inc. of Corona.