HAPAG-LLOYD US PORT STRIKE SURCHARGES TO GO INTO EFFECT SAME DAY AS TRUMP INAUGURATION
Ocean container carrier Hapag-Lloyd announced two surcharges ahead of a potential strike by unionized longshore workers at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports in January. The Work Disruption Surcharge (WDS) and Work Interruption Destination Surcharge (WID) are effective Jan. 20, 2025, in the event of a strike, the German company said in an announcement on its website. “This surcharge covers additional costs from labor disruptions, strikes, slowdowns, unrest, congestion, and other unforeseen events that may delay operations and incur extra handling, storage, and feeder service costs,” the announcement stated. The surcharges take effect on Jan. 20, the same day President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated and just after the current longshore contract extension expires Jan. 15. Hapag-Lloyd said the surcharges will be waived if no disruptions take place. They do not apply to containers already on the water or in terminals before Jan. 20.
FIRE DAMAGES VANCOUVER PORT COAL TERMINAL
No injuries were reported after a machinery fire damaged a marine coal terminal at the Port of Vancouver. Video posted on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the blaze at Westshore Terminals on Friday at Roberts Bank, British Columbia. The fire was extinguished by local first responders, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said in a statement. Operations at the terminal, just over the U.S. border, and at a neighboring facility operated by GCT Deltaport were temporarily shut down. Delta Fire & Emergency Services in a posting to X said the fire was limited to a conveyor belt and is not considered suspicious. Westshore bills itself as Canada’s busiest export coal terminal, handling 36 million tons a year. There was no immediate word on when operations would resume.
SUEZ TOLL REVENUE DROPS 60%; CANAL TESTS TWO-WAY TRAFFIC
Suez Canal revenue has plunged 60% this year, a loss of $7 billion for Egypt, amid attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and ongoing regional tensions. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a statement blamed rising geopolitical challenges for the decline but offered no other details, according to published reports. Egypt collects tolls on vessels that transit the canal, a key route for maritime commerce. That amounted to $9.4 billion in 2023, or 15% of the foreign currency entering the country. At the same time, a dredging project to test two-way vessel transit was termed a success, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement Saturday. Currently only some sections of the canal accommodate two-way transits via a parallel waterway opened in 2015. Two-way traffic could eventually increase the waterway’s vessel capacity and avoid catastrophic shutdowns such as the 2021 grounding of the container ship Ever Given which blocked canal traffic for six days. Some observers forecast a return of Red Sea shipping services as security improves, but likely not until the second half of 2025.
PORT OF LONG BEACH NEARS RECORD TEUS
The Port of Long Beach, Calif., is riding a wave of six straight months of record volumes to head toward 9.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2024, breaking a record for container volumes set during the pandemic in 2021. The second-busiest U.S. import gateway reported its best November on record, handling 884,154 TEUs, an increase of 20.9% from the same month a year ago and ahead of the previous record set in November 2020 by 12.8%. Loaded imports gained 21.8% to 432,823 TEUs while loaded exports were 9.5% better at 119,083 TEUs from November 2023. Empty containers reached 332,250 TEUs, up 24.5%. It was the sixth consecutive monthly year-over-year cargo increase. Container volume totaled 8,788,718 TEUs through the first 11 months of this year, up 20.2% y/y. Imports loads came to 4,316,676 TEUs, up 24.4%, and loaded exports totaled 1,106,244, off 6.2% year-to-date. Inbound empties fell 5.3% to 156,593 TEUs while outbound empties soared 28.7% to 3,209,206 TEUs year-to-date.