A reconfigured chassis pool will launch in 2023 covering three Southeast US ports, aiming to replace an aging fleet with new and refurbished chassis containing the latest technology and safety features.

Ceres Terminals’ 20-year deal to operate the TraPac container terminal in Jacksonville includes a pledge to spend $15 million to upgrade the facility.

The trans-Atlantic trade will report significant volume growth in 2021 as heavy US demand fills all available capacity and pushes rates to record levels.

Leading US East and Gulf coast gateways for automobiles and other ro/ro cargoes posted major year-over-year percentage increases in tonnage during the first few months of 2021, wiping out the declines that US ports saw in early 2020.

Although the Port of Charleston will be leaving the regional chassis pool in the Southeast, port officials in Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; and Wilmington, North Carolina, remain optimistic that they can upgrade the fleet with safer, modern equipment.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand in the United States and the Caribbean and Central America caused two-way trade between the regions to contract in the first nine months of 2020.

Jaxport’s $484 million project, due to be complete in 2023, will provide a wider vessel turning basin and the ability to handle two post-Panamax vessels simultaneously in SSA’s Blount Island Terminal.

Workers at ports, warehouses, and trucking companies are receiving exemptions from state “stay-at-home” mandates because they are judged as essential to the US supply chain.

Despite stiff truck competition, East Coast ports have taken aggressive steps to capture more intermodal cargo and spend significant capital to build out rail infrastructure.

Growth in US imports from the Caribbean and Central America was unable to offset a decline in exports in the first nine months of 2019.

The state of Florida has appropriated $35.3 million dollars to deepen the Jacksonville Harbor to 47 feet along a 11-mile stretch to the Blount Island terminal by 2023.

Although Jacksonville will lose a weekly Asian service to Tampa in May, the port remains confident it will get new trans-Pacific services as SSA Marine expands the Blount Island terminal and can diversify into other markets as dredging deepens the harbor.

Roll-on, roll-off cargo flowed smoothly through US ports during the first half of 2018, and the involved ports are moving forward with planned, needed investments. Further, the immediate years ahead look promising, provided the trade tension winds die down.

When it comes to finished-automobile shipments, US South Atlantic ports are in a sweet spot. Regional population growth is boosting demand for imports, and new auto assembly plants are bolstering exports.

After a substantial gain in 2017, retailers are forecasting another increase in US container import volume in 2018, as container lines and beneficial cargo owners prepare for annual trans-Pacific rate and service contract negotiations.

The Trump administration announced the tariffs Monday in response to complaints from US-based manufacturers that foreign competition was unfairly flooding the US market with cheap imports.

The port said it is in negotiations with an unnamed potential operator for the new Dames Point auto terminal.