The Port of Los Angeles began the final phase of its 13-year, $370 million Main Channel Deepening Project (MCDP) late last week.

Shippers using the EU’s biggest seaport may be hit with new surcharges next month. Serious operational problems and delays at the Euromax, ECT Home and ECT Delta terminals in Rotterdam these past three weeks have caused both delays and short-shipments of cargo to and from the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.

As noted in our news section last week by my colleague, Jeff Berman, the Ports of Los Angles and Long Beach are back on track to handle Peak Season volumes once again. But Southern California shippers will be keeping an eye on how labor/management negotiations are going before committing to any long-term strategies at these key ocean cargo gateways

Even though year-over-year comparisons were relatively easy, June volumes at the Ports of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB) turned in strong performances.

While the forecast for import cargo volume at U.S.-based retail container ports remains positive, the amount by which volumes rise on a monthly basis is expected to narrow in the coming months, according to the most recent Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

The good news released recently by Alphaliner about more carrier activity has been countered by Drewry Shipping Consultants’ latest Container Forecaster, which posits the idea that a “peak season” may fail to materialize.

During the first six months of 2010, the active containership capacity has risen by 15.3 percent, jumping from 11.55 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) on January 1 to 13.32 million TEU at the end of June, according to figures released by Alphaliner, a Paris-based consultancy.

Analysts contend that box manufacturing slump is hurting both carriers and shippers

Spot prices for transpacific shipping services have grown by more than 180 percent during the past 12 months to reach a five-year high.

DHL Global Forwarding announced this week that it has rolled out a new Less-than-Container-Load (LCL) Expedited services which will connect 19 European origins to the United States.