Cargo Operations: Canaveral, Duluth/Superior, Long Beach, Wilmington (DE)

 

Port Canaveral staff were on hand December 21 to welcome the captain and crew of the pure car carrier Höegh Sydney on her maiden visit to the port. Port Canaveral was the first U.S. port call for the vessel on a transit that originated in East Asia.  

 

Höegh Sydney is the fourth vehicle carrier to call Port Canaveral and delivered the first auto imports to arrive here directly from Asia.  During her six-hour stay, the ship discharged more than 800 cars destined for Central Florida dealerships after processing through the AutoPort Canaveral, LLC facility. 

 

Port Canaveral’s partnership with Ro/Ro terminal operator, AutoPort Canaveral, LLC has expanded opportunities for business. Utilizing the new 16 acre auto-terminal, Canaveral has become a port of export to Central America and the Middle East for heavy equipment and trucks used in forestry, mining and agriculture. On the import side, new vehicles from Mexico and Asia arrive at Port Canaveral for distribution to central and south Florida markets

 

"The growing Central Florida region is driving increased Ro/Ro business for our port," said Port CEO Captain John Murray. "We are the ideal gateway to that high demand, high consuming market and proud of our partners at AutoPort Canaveral, LLC as they expand operations here at the port."

 

 

 

 

 

The December 20 sailing of M/V Beatrix – the last oceangoing vessel to leave the Twin Ports this year – signaled the beginning of the end of the 2017 commercial shipping season in the Port of Duluth-Superior and across the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system. 

 

Beatrix had completed loading 12,000 metric tons of spring wheat at the CHS elevator in Superior – grain bound for the United Kingdom.  The departure was timed to enable the ship to clear the Seaway locks by Christmas Day. 

 

Great Lakes freighters will continue to move bulk cargoes in/out of this port and across Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie through mid-January as weather conditions and icebreaking assists allow. The Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie (MI) are scheduled to close at midnight on January 15. 

Shipping through the Port of Duluth-Superior is ending on a strong note. Shipments of Minnesota iron ore this season have outpaced records not seen in a decade – 17.5 million short tons through November – a 35 percent year-over-year increase. That momentum has already pushed the port’s total tonnage past the 2016 season-end total. 

While grain shipments fell short compared to the last few years, coal has held steady and deliveries of project cargo and bulk cargoes like limestone, cement, clay and salt have helped boost tonnage by 17 percent heading into the final stretch.  

 

Looking ahead, a half-dozen lakers will be spending winter layup here in the Twin Ports undergoing some heavy-duty maintenance and repair work in preparation for the Soo Locks to reopen March 25 and the 2018 commercial navigation season to commence.

 

 

 

 

The largest China COSCO Shipping vessel to ever come to North America visited the Port of Long Beach a few weeks ago.

 

COSCO Shipping’s 14,500-TEU Himalayas berthed at the Pacific Container Terminal on November 22. PCT transferred a total of 15,860 TEUs to and from the Himalayas before it departed on November. 27.

 

The port has been handling ships of 14,000 TEU capacity or greater since 2012. Among them was the 18,000-TEU CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, the largest container ship to come to North America, which docked here in February 2016.

 

A Himalayas sister ship, COSCO Shipping Alps, is scheduled to call Long Beach in February and March 2018. 

 

"Moving high volumes of containers on and off ships like COSCO Shipping Himalayas is our specialty," said Port Executive Director Mario Cordero. "It’s a skill we’ve built our services around so we can do it better than any other Port in the nation. We’re honored that China COSCO Shipping chose us for this visit."

 

 

The first breakbulk shipment of Chilean winter fruit to arrive in the United States for the 2017-18 season sailed into Delaware’s Port of Wilmington December 18 aboard M/V Green Italia. 

 

Upon arrival, the specialized reefer ship began discharging her cargo of more than 290,000 boxes of fresh cherries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and table grapes. 

 

Wilmington is a major port of entry and distribution center for the seasonal importation of fresh Chilean winter fruit. This season, the port is expecting at least 25 shiploads of fruit from the Chilean ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo, and Caldera. Global Reefers is the sole shipping line providing express service direct from Chile to Wilmington. 

 

Green Italia’s arrival marked the eighth season in a row that Wilmington has been the first port in the United States to welcome the inaugural breakbulk shipment of Chilean fruit.  

 

"We are privileged, to once again serve our customers and trade partners in support of the timely distribution of the freshest available fruit to North American Consumers," said Port Executive Director Gene Bailey.

 

The cargo is stored in the port’s 800,000 square foot/74,322 square-meter on-dock refrigerated warehouse complex pending distribution throughout Canada and the eastern United States.  During the 2016-17 season, Wilmington received more than 14.1 million boxes of Chilean fruit.  That trade, says the port, supports more than 857 "family sustaining jobs" and annually generates $48 million in personal income, $51 million in business revenue and $5 million in tax revenue for Delaware and the region.