Lamar University, Center for Advances in Port Management, P.O. Box 10262, Beaumont, TX 77710-0032.  Phone: (409) 880-7121. Fax: (409) 880-8121. Email: rstromberg@lamar.edu. Contact: Mr. Erik Stromberg, Executive Director.  (AAPA Sustaining Member)

The Port of San Diego has initiated an oyster nursery research project as part of efforts to explore new aquaculture and blue technology opportunities.

The first breakbulk shipment of Chilean winter fruit of the 2016-17 season to reach the United States arrived December 14 at Delaware’s Port of Wilmington (DE). North Carolina’s first in-port cold storage facility is now in operation at the Port of Wilmington.

Port Tampa Bay officials on December 11 welcomed Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jade to her new cruise homeport for the 2016-2017 fall/winter cruise season.

Three brand new 100-gauge cranes are now operational at the newly rebuilt Berth 35 at the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Blount Island Marine Terminal. An independent analysis conducted by the Journal of Commerce rates the Baltimore the most productive container port in the United States for calendar year 2015. A December 15 ribbon cutting formally celebrated completion of Port Manatee’s $1.1 million South Gate expansion project.

The Police Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PAPD) added 80 officers to its ranks with the graduation on December 9 of the department’s 114th Police Academy class.

The Port of Long Beach on December 15 released a draft environmental study on a proposal to redevelop a rail yard to allow for the assembly of longer trains within the harbor district. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Port of Los Angeles an $800,000 grant to deploy more of the cleanest commercial equipment available for moving cargo.

The Port of Coos Bay’s redesigned website, www.portofcoosbay.com, provides users an easier, more interactive, and more enjoyable experience while using the port’s online platform.

The Port of Brownsville’s grain elevator officially re-opened December 15 after extensive renovation by West Plains LLC, a grain elevator subsidiary of the BioUrja Group. The Port of Prince Rupert and DP World say the ongoing expansion of Fairview Container Terminal is now more than 75 percent complete. Begun in first quarter 2015, the Phase II North project is on schedule to increase annual capacity at Prince Rupert’s container terminal to more than 1.35 million TEUs by third quarter 2017. Ports America and Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP) have formalized an agreement for the promotion, development and management of the proposed Novaporte deep-water marine container facility at the Port of Sydney in Nova Scotia.

Florida’s 15 seaports have created 200,000 new jobs across the state since 2012 according to a new report from the Florida Ports Council (FPC). They are also responsible for $117.6 billion in economic activity, supporting nearly 900,000 jobs, $40 billion in personal income and $4.3 billion in state and local tax revenue.

Shifting alliance routes and the Hanjin bankruptcy continue to affect Port of Long Beach, with November container volume down 13.8 percent from a year ago. The Port of Oakland reports the upward trend for containerized exports continued through November. Container throughput at the Port of Los Angeles set a Western Hemisphere record this November for the second month in a row. November was a good month for agricultural product and aluminum ingot shipments via the Great Lakes Seaway System, according to the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.

Captain Norman Stark, president and CEO of the Vancouver Port Authority from 1991 until his retirement in 2001, passed away early Wednesday morning, December 14. He was 69.