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Issue 8 2020 - FBJNA


///STEVEDORES & TERMINALS


GCT New York, on Staten Island, recently finished deploying the Navis N4 terminal operating system. (Credit: GCT USA)


Terminal Operators, Stevedores Experienced Mixed Bag for 2020


By Peter Buxbaum


It’s become a familiar pattern for economies and companies this year during the pandemic. Economic activity contracted severely in the second quarter in the wake of the COVID lockdowns, then spiked in the third quarter as things opened up. The United States economy grew by 7.4% in the third quarter, and 33.1% on an annualized basis. The same pattern has been


seen at some, but not all, port terminal operations in North America, as COVID was not the only negative factor


impacting their businesses. The Port of New York and New Jersey set container-volume records in August, after falling 7.5% in April, benefitting Global Container Terminals operations in that region. GCT was also helped by additional alliance vessel calls at its Bayonne, New Jersey, facility. August also saw record


container activity at the Seagirt Marine Terminal, operated by Ports America Chesapeake, at the Port of Baltimore. That feat was helped by 5,320 moves from


the Maersk Edinburgh, the largest number for a single ship in the port’s history. Other stevedoring


operations did not fare as well, but some were battling headwinds unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic. Breakbulk steel volumes at Pasha Stevedoring & Terminals, for example, have dropped over 30% since the Section 232 tariffs took effect in mid-2018. LOGISTEC Corporation’s


revenues from its maritime operations have seen steady declines throughout the year, over 12% year-to-date at the end of September, and 21.4% year-over-year in the third quarter. The company cited the remarkably active 2020 hurricane season as one reason for depressed volumes in some locations. Together with all their


A new $149 million intermodal rail facility opened last year at GCT Bayonne. (Credit: GCT USA)


SSA Marine ordered 36 Kalmar Ottawa T2 terminal tractors for operations in company terminals in Panama and Mexico this year. (Credit: Kalmar)


Hyundai Merchant Marine) entered THE Alliance as its fourth full member in April, joining Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express, and Yang Ming. The Hyundai Hope’s call at


challenges, maritime terminals and stevedores continue to focus on enhancing facilities and services and on growth opportunities. At LOGISTEC, those opportunities come “both organically and through acquisitions,” noted Madeleine Paquin, the company’s chief executive officer. LOGISTEC acquired terminals at the ports of Houston and Pascagoula during the third quarter and invested $1.7 million in cargo handling equipment at the Port of Corner Brook in


Newfoundland and Labrador. “Our cargo handling team


also started to operate at the port of Kitimat, British Columbia, the largest private port in Canada,” said Paquin. The Montreal-based LOGISTEC provides bulk, breakbulk, and container cargo handling services in 36 ports and 63 terminals in North America. The Global Container


Terminals’ facility in Bayonne, NJ, has seen more large-vessel activity this year with the return of HMM to east-coast rotations. HMM (formerly


Bayonne on May 16 marked HMM’s return after a three- year hiatus. At 13,154 TEU, the Hope


represented


the


first larger-vessel call of THE Alliance EC2 service to GCT Bayonne.


John Atkins,


president of GCT USA noted that “the upsized EC2 service increased


to three,” the


number of large container- vessel calls per week at the facility.


Terminal Improvements


Large ships such as the


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