Articles

Ocean Shipping

Michelle Comerford

Inland Ports: An Efficient Alternative

Coastal seaports remain pivotal components of many supply chains. Yet, for U.S. manufacturers and distributors scouting new locations, nearby real estate options are pricey, scarce, and/or stuck in a web of congested roadways. One viable solution is inland ports—intermodal terminals directly connected to seaports by rail or road.

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Autonomous Ship: Maiden China?

Autonomous Ship: Maiden China?

China’s first unmanned cargo ship completed its test voyage in December 2019, marking a significant milestone in autonomous shipping. The ship, Jin Dou Yun 0 Hao, successfully delivered cargo from Dong Ao Island in Zhuhuai to the No. 1 pier of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Measuring about 42.2 feet long and 12.5 feet wide and […]

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Bernhard Simon

Can the New Silk Road Compete with the Maritime Silk Road?

The more I hear and read about the New Silk Road, the more grand the expectations. Politically, the trade corridors between China and Europe, as well as Africa, seem to be China’s key to becoming a leading global power in the 21st century. Logistically, infrastructures and networks are emerging on an entirely new scale, taking a gigantic economic area—representing 60% of the world’s population and 35% of the global economy—to the next level. The New Silk Road could act as a high-speed internet for transporting goods.

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Port of Wilmington’s Darling Clementines

Port of Wilmington’s Darling Clementines

The Port of Wilmington, Delaware, has set a record for the largest single shipment of fresh Moroccan citrus received by the port, with more than 1.75 million boxes of cargo. This record volume was transported from Agadir, Morocco, to Wilmington onboard the specialized refrigerated vessel M.V. Ditlev Reefer, arriving at the port Nov. 28, 2018. […]

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Panama Canal Keeps the Faith

Panama Canal Keeps the Faith

The Panama Canal welcomed its 5,000th Neopanamax vessel through the waterway, reaffirming the value and impact the route has had on global maritime trade. The COSCO Faith container carrier (photo above) transited the canal traveling southbound from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The vesselhas a 13,345 total TEU allowance and measures 366 meters in […]

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Making a Dry Run

Shipping in containers is an economical and safe way of shipping most types of cargo. But putting cargo into an enclosed steel box also entails a constant risk of moisture damage for almost every kind of cargo on every voyage, according to Absortech. When damage occurs, it may result in substantial losses and costs. In […]

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Collapsing High Container Costs

The global shipping sector has a container problem. To be precise, it has a $30-billion container problem, and that price tag is increasing every year. In addition to their financial costs, empty containers congest deck spaces and crowd ports. And forcing ships to transport millions of empty containers around the world every year creates unnecessary […]

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Panama Canal in the Zone

Panama Canal in the Zone

The Panama Canal closed its 2018 fiscal year with a record 442.1 million Panama Canal tons (PC/UMS), which represents a 9.5-percent increase from the previous year. This surpasses cargo projections of 429.4 million PC/UMS tons for FY 2018, as well as the 403.8 million PC/UMS tons registered in FY 2017. The transit of liquefied petroleum […]

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Alaska Marine Lines expands Western Alaska service to Arctic ports

Alaska Marine Lines, an Alaska marine transportation company, is expanding its service from Seattle and Anchorage to the Arctic Region in 2019. Bowhead Transport will provide the destination services at the North Slope villages of Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Utqiagvik (Barrow), and Kaktovik. Alaska Marine Lines will also service Deadhorse with its two annual […]

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Optimizing Ocean Transport

The growth in e-commerce orders and strong economy mean companies are extending their supply chains to reach a global audience. Ocean transportation is a complex mode with unique considerations. To streamline your ocean freight process: 1. start consolidating Minimize less-than-containerload shipments by consolidating multiple products coming from the same area into a single container. Shipping […]

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Leveling the Ocean Shipping Playing Field

Participating beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) can benefit from enhanced purchasing power, service monitoring, and cost transparency as a result of a new partnership between supply chain consulting company Chainalytics and global shipping consultancy Drewry. The companies have joined forces to launch an innovative ocean freight procurement solution for shippers. The Chainalytics Ocean Buying Group will […]

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SCPA: One for the Record Books

SCPA: One for the Record Books

South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) set a new container volume record, handling 2.2 million TEUs during 2017, and posted nine-percent container volume growth. The port’s total container volume in 2017 surpassed the previous record of 2 million TEUs achieved in 2016. In addition, the port moved 182,884 TEUs in December 2017, an increase of 11.2 […]

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Panama Canal Expansion Hits the Big Time

Panama Canal Expansion Hits the Big Time

Two Great Pyramids of Giza, four Big Bens, eight Statues of Liberty. Lay them end to end, and you’ve got the equivalent length of the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, the largest capacity vessel to ever transit the Panama Canal’s expanded locks. At 1,228 feet long, the Neopanamax containership has a total capacity of 14,414 TEUs. […]

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