Long Beach is operating with six cargo terminals instead of the seven it had before California United Terminals left in late 2010 to move into the Port of Los Angeles. Long Beach officials said the lost terminal, which is a subsidiary of Hyundai, represented about 10% of the port's cargo traffic.

The promise of a Panama Canal expansion has spurred a flurry of legislative pleas and proposals.

Too bad it’s largely hype.

Improvements completed on the canal by 2014 will allow ships twice as big [...]]]> Politico, a major blog about Capitol Hill, took notice of the Panama Canal expansion and published this post this week:

The promise of a Panama Canal expansion has spurred a flurry of legislative pleas and proposals.

Too bad it’s largely hype.

Improvements completed on the canal by 2014 will allow ships twice as big to reach the East Coast. In theory, this could reroute vessels that stop on the West Coast and send goods across the country.

Lawmakers have used the expansion to push along bills, beg for more funding and tout their role enhancing international trade. And the canal has turned into an unlikely catchphrase for an oft-ignored port industry.

But much stands in the way of that potential. Goods still will move faster across the country than through a full water route. The East Coast option may prove cheaper, but Panama has not said how much it will charge in tolls. And the Suez Canal already offers a venue for these larger ships.

Read the rest at Politico

The farm commodities trading giant, which earlier this month agreed to buy US sugar refiner Imperial Sugar for $203m including debt, said [...]]]> Louis Dreyfus Commodities revealed it stood ready to extend the wave of consolidation among agribusinesses, unveiling a $7bn warchest, underpinned by the trader’s first access to capital markets in its 160-year history.

The farm commodities trading giant, which earlier this month agreed to buy US sugar refiner Imperial Sugar for $203m including debt, said it was to spend $7bn building assets and buying companies, following investment of $4.9bn in the 2006-11 timespan.

“We will be certainly making more acquisitions that we have done in the past,” Serge Schoen, the Louis Dreyfus chief executive, told the Financial Times newspaper.

More at AgriMoney

The announcement of the new MOL call comes on top of two other [...]]]> The Port of Virginia will gain a “first-in” vessel call in June when MOL will begin making weekly calls at Norfolk International Terminals with its new all-water service between the Far East and the U.S. East Coast via the Suez Canal.

The announcement of the new MOL call comes on top of two other moves earlier this year by carriers that made Virginia the last call on the return legs of their all-water services to Asia.

More in the Journal of Commerce

The federal Conservative government must decide whether the foreign takeover is of net benefit to the country. [...]]]> The Western Canadian province of Saskatchewan said on Friday it wants Ottawa to impose conditions on Swiss-based Glencore’s C$6.1 billion ($6.1 billion) takeover bid for the country’s top grain handler, Viterra Inc, which is headquartered in Saskatchewan.

The federal Conservative government must decide whether the foreign takeover is of net benefit to the country. The independent Competition Bureau is also examining Glencore International Plc’s plans to sell parts of Viterra to Agrium Inc and Richardson International Ltd.

The deal would make Glencore, already the world’s biggest diversified commodities trader, a major player in grains alongside Cargill Inc, Archer Daniels Midland Co, Bunge Ltd and Louis Dreyfus Corp.

More at Reuters

Longshore and Shipping News does not advertize. Any ads in the news segment are placed by the station that produced the segment.

The bar pilots say they need to add a second pilot on some ships to ensure safety. “The value of our service to the state of California and the [...]]]>

Longshore and Shipping News does not advertize. Any ads in the news segment are placed by the station that produced the segment.

The bar pilots say they need to add a second pilot on some ships to ensure safety. “The value of our service to the state of California and the protection of the environment, I mean, I’m not sure you can put a price on that,” Horton said.

But the bar pilots have put a price on it. They want to charge 50 percent more for ships they believe need two pilots. The shippers don’t want to pay.

Mike Jacob of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association says state law already dictates pilots’ fees based on the size of the ship.

So the pilots are … asking legislators to approve payment for a second pilot. This time, they have Assembly member Sandre Swanson of Oakland sponsoring the bill.

Swanson says he’d like to see them compensated for a second pilot, but he doesn’t want them deciding when a second pilot is needed.

“Should public safety be left to their discretion? I think public safety should be left to the discretion of the legislature who is responsible to protect the public,” Swanson said.

If his bill doesn’t pass, Swanson says the safety of the Bay is at risk. “If they don’t get compensated and we don’t pass a bill that requires there to be two pilots, is there a chance that maybe we might have one pilot on a super vessel that requires two? There’s always that chance. That’s a chance that I don’t think we can afford to have.”

The pilots point out they’re not being paid with tax dollars, but by wealthy shipping merchants, owned mostly by foreign companies. The merchants say if they have to pay the pilots more, there is a good chance the cost will be passed on to the consumer.

More at KGO News

Adrian Vásquez is the sole survivor of the fishing boat that signaled the cruise ship. His 16-year-old and 31-year-old companions died in the days after the ship passed them by.

Tacoma port commissioners have approved a contract for design work to equip one of its container terminals to handle the biggest container ships now envisioned.

The [...]]]>

Maersk hasn’t said where it will use its giant new ships, but maritime authorities expect they will initially be used in the trade between Europe and Asia.

Tacoma port commissioners have approved a contract for design work to equip one of its container terminals to handle the biggest container ships now envisioned.

The Port of Tacoma publicly says it is simply updating its Husky Terminal to keep up with technological developments. The cranes now available at that terminal have a reach of 16 to 18 containers wide.

Port insiders say the port is actively courting Maersk to return to Tacoma from Seattle. Maersk was a longtime Tacoma tenant until it left two years ago to join its alliance partner, the French container line CMA CGM.

From the News Tribune

Cosco has safety concerns about the Valemax vessels, which are almost as big as the Bank of America Tower in New York, Ma said. The miner’s plan to spend at least $8 billion on a fleet of 35 mega-ships has also hit shipowners’ earnings by creating new competition, and stoked tensions between Brazil [...]]]>

Cosco has safety concerns about the Valemax vessels, which are almost as big as the Bank of America Tower in New York, Ma said. The miner’s plan to spend at least $8 billion on a fleet of 35 mega-ships has also hit shipowners’ earnings by creating new competition, and stoked tensions between Brazil and China according to Johnson Leung, a Jefferies Group Inc. analyst.

The state-owned company, known as Cosco, expects a “big” impact on operations from the boycott and it’s considering filing a complaint with China’s Ministry of Commerce, President Ma Zehua said in an interview in Beijing. Vale, the world’s biggest iron-ore producer, has shunned Cosco’s fleet for about two months, even if it meant using more expensive ships from other owners, he said. Unit China Cosco Holdings Co. fell to the lowest in almost four months in Hong Kong.

“Many recent steps taken by Vale aren’t rational,” Ma said. “We believe their decisions are based on their perception that Cosco is doing something to lobby the government and not allow Valemaxes into Chinese ports.”

From Business Week