U.S. West Coast seaports honored Independence Day by shutting down operations on Monday, July 4. As well they should. It may come as a surprise to many, that the ports were closed on July 5th as well.

The cost of the U.S. business logistics system jumped up 10.4 percent in 2010, making up more than half of the preceding year’s decline. But don’t expect gains like this to continue as the economy begins to slow and all four transportation modes scramble to make adjustments during this period of unprecedented volatility.

Carriers get their house in order

While North America’s great ocean cargo gateways are heavily reliant on containerized throughput, major and minor ports alike are not letting go of their bulk and breakbulk operations. Indeed, many of them are coming to regard this basic piece of their portfolio as a value-added service.

I’m not sure who said it, but it’s one of my favorite lines when it comes to putting the current market environment into perspective: You don’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been.

Responding to shipper concerns, the West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA) announced it will postpone until August 1 its planned adjustment to the Traffic Mitigation Fee at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Port of Long Beach, which has been promoting free market solutions to address air pollution concerns for some time, is celebrating the nation’s Independence Day weekend by closing an irksome contractual loophole

The Port of San Francisco, which ceded major container operations to its cross-bay rival, the Port of Oakland, many years ago, is getting back to basics.

As many leading ocean carrier executives have noted recently, sharper shipper expectations are driving disruptive change in the industry

While labor costs and “green” initiatives may be making West Coast ports less dominant in the coming years, they are hardly at risk, said a prominent industry analyst.