Americas News

U.S. shippers are steering clear of East and Gulf Coast ports amid worries the 45,000 dockworkers at those trade hubs will go on strike again if their union leader does not land a new contract with employers by a Jan. 15 deadline.The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) labor union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group had ended a three-day strike in October with a tentative agreement on wages, but left the thorny issue of port automation still to be resolved."Anything we expect that we need in the back half of January…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a $3 billion investment from his Inflation Reduction Act to improve the country's port infrastructure.The investment includes $147 million in awards for the Maryland Port Administration, which owns the Port of Baltimore, the White House said in a statement.The funding will be used to create union jobs and upgrade port infrastructure to cleaner equipment, the statement added.The announcement comes after the three day port strike on the U.S.

The union representing 45,000 East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers and a group representing employers will resume negotiations next month toward reaching a new six-year contract ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline, they said on Friday.The International Longshoremen's Association union agreed to end a three-day strike on Oct. 3 after it won agreement for a 62% wage hike over six years with the United States Maritime Alliance employer group after significant involvement by the White House…

The Panama Canal's profit increased about 9.5% in the fiscal year ended in September to $3.45 billion despite a severe drought that reduced the number of vessels that passed through the waterway, its authority said on Friday.Adverse weather conditions that reduced water available for the canal to operate forced the authority to cut the number of ships authorized to pass per day between late 2023 and early 2024, while limiting their maximum draft allowed.The restrictions, which caused long delays for some vessels to pass and forced others to seek alternative routes…

Canadian Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon said on Tuesday his proposal to appoint a mediator to help settle a dispute at the port of Montreal had been rejected.MacKinnon made the offer last week in a bid to resolve a standoff between the Maritime Employers Association and Montreal Longshoremen's union over a new contract.

A huge fire that erupted early on Tuesday at an oil tank in Venezuela's La Salina terminal operated by state company PDVSA was extinguished on Wednesday, authorities said.The fire broke out during a storm at the facility used by the state oil company near Venezuela's western city of Cabimas to store and ship crude between domestic ports.Large balls of fire left a plume of black smoke and released hot steam, leaving a total of 24 employees and neighbors with minor injuries. Two explosions and the hot temperatures affected the tank's structure…

Long Beach, Calif. based dredging and marine services contractor Curtin Maritime Corp. has been awarded a contract worth more than $33 million to perform dredging work in Baltimore, Md. The $33,493,525 firm-fixed-price contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District and is for Baltimore Harbor and channels maintenance dredging.Curtin Maritime was one of three bidders for the project, which is estimated to be completed by March 31, 2025.

Ports of Indiana has introduced a new venture called Indiana River & Rail Terminals, creating the largest general cargo operation along the Ohio River. This initiative will oversee all general cargo facilities at the Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon ports, encompassing six docks, six warehouses, and several rail transload facilities. It will also provide logistics services to over 40 clients across the extensive 2,200 acres of port land.Positioned within the greater Louisville and Evansville metropolitan areas…

Brazilian port terminal group Amport said on Thursday that grains transport through the Tapajos waterway has come to a halt as a severe drought hit northern Brazil and lowered the river's water levels.Tapajos, which links Brazil's central and north regions, is a key corridor to transport grains from agricultural heartlands in states, including Mato Grosso, Brazil's top soy producer, to ports in the Amazon region.Amport, which represents firms such as Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, told Reuters that navigation of barge convoys carrying grains in the Tapajos has been halted since last Friday, and is

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) announced it will receive $1,040,583 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through its Port Security Grant Program. This funding will be used to upgrade both physical infrastructure and technology within the Harbor Police Department’s (HPD) surveillance network, as well as to acquire essential equipment for emergency response. All upgrades must be finalized by August 31, 2027.In 2024, FEMA’s Port Security Grant Program allocated $90 million to various agencies aimed at enhancing the protection of critical port infrastructure from terrorism…

Dockworkers at the Port of Montreal have begun an overtime strike on Thursday morning, the port authority said, as negotiations over a new contract make little progress.During this partial strike of indefinite duration, all port terminals will remain open but dockworkers will not be working overtime as part of their duties, it said.The port authority estimates the strike to slow down or disrupt the handling of around 50% of goods, including food, pharmaceutical products and raw materials for industries…

Hurricane Milton closed in on Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday, spawning tornados and lashing the region with rain and wind hours ahead of its expected landfall near Tampa Bay, where it could deliver a life-threatening surge of seawater to communities along the waterfront.Millions of people along a stretch of more than 300 miles (483 km) of coastline were under evacuation orders, just two weeks after Hurricane Helene cut a swath of devastation. Authorities issued increasingly dire warnings on Wednesday as landfall…

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas fell slightly in September as plant maintenance trimmed output, while Europe remained the leading destination, data from financial firm LSEG showed.Gulf Coast plants escaped any major impact from hurricanes last month, helping the U.S. to retain its status as the world's largest LNG exporter.Exports of the superchilled gas fell to 7.26 million metric tons in September, just down from August, when the U.S. sold 7.48 MT, LSEG data showed.U.S.

At least one oil and gas platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was shut on Monday and Florida ports imposed restrictions on vessel navigation as Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified.Most energy infrastructure on the U.S. Gulf Coast, including oil and gas production facilities, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and refineries, is expected to be out of the storm path, but the closure of terminals could temporarily disrupt exports and imports.Florida was the sixth largest state exporter of goods last year, according to the Office of the U.S.

The Holt Lock on the Black Warrior River in Holt, Ala., has reopened after being closed earlier this year due to concerns about its structural stability.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the lock on June 22 after the Mobile District engineering team conducted an initial stability analysis that identified cracks and leaks in the lock's infrastructure."The analysis, which utilized known data and certain assumptions, revealed critical stability issues with the monolith structure of the Holt Lock," the Corps said at the time of the closure.

A strike by dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast that disrupted much of the nation's ocean shipping this week ended on Thursday, but a key issue driving labor unrest across the continent - the growing use of automation - was unresolved.Companies view automation as a path to better profit while unions see it as a job-killer. For North American dockworkers battling automation, Europe's port worker contracts may point a way to resolve the issue.Some 45,000 port workers…

U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports began reopening late on Thursday after dockworkers and port operators reached a wage deal to settle the industry's biggest work stoppage in nearly half a century, but clearing the cargo backlog will take time.The strike ended sooner than investors had expected, weakening shipping stocks across Asia on Friday as freight rates were no longer expected to surge.At least 54 container ships queued outside the ports as the strike had prevented unloading and threatened shortages of anything from bananas to auto parts.

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.8 million tons in September, an increase of 9.4% compared to a year ago, according to latest figures from trade group the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA). Limestone cargos were also above the month’s 5-year average by 4.5%.Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 3.1 million tons, an increase of 10.6% from 2023. Shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 678,580 tons, an increase of 4.2%, LCA said..LCA data shows that year-to-date the limestone trade stands at 20.8 million tons, an increase of 1.8% compared to a year ago.

U.S. dock workers and port operators have reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) said on Thursday.The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The workers union had been seeking a 77% raise while the employer…

Shipments of iron ore from U.S. ports on the Great Lakes totaled 5.5 million tons in September, a decrease of 1.9% compared to a year ago, according to latest figures from industry trade group the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA). Shipments were above the month’s 5-year average by 6.6%.Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 36.5 million tons, a decrease of less than 1% compared to the same point in 2023, LCA said.Through September iron ore loadings are 7.3% above their 5-year average for the first three quarters of the year.

Long lines of container ships lined up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly half a century entered its third day, preventing unloading and threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts.No negotiations were scheduled between the International Longshoremen's Association and employers, but the port owners, under pressure from the White House to hike their pay offer to land a deal, signaled late on Wednesday they were open to new talks."The longer this goes on…

A strike by 45,000 dockworkers halting shipments at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports entered its second day on Wednesday with no negotiations currently scheduled between the two sides, sources told Reuters.The lack of progress is raising concerns among those reliant on shipments that the disruption could be prolonged.The International Longshoremen's Association union strike has blocked goods from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, which…

President Joe Biden’s administration heaped pressure on U.S. port employers to raise their offer to secure a labor deal with dockworkers on strike for a second day on Wednesday, choking half the country’s ocean shipping.The strike by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union has blocked goods from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, a disruption that analysts warn will cost the economy billions of dollars a day.More than 38 container vessels were already backed up at U.S.