As of Friday, the larger of the two striking unions representing longshoremen at the Port of Montreal reached a temporary agreement that will allow operations to resume.  The agreement between the Maritime Employers Association and the Port of Montreal Longshoremen Unions (CUPE section 375) suspends strike action for seven months. It will take some time for normal operations to resume as carriers adjust schedules to redirect cargo in transit and terminals clear the current backlog of containers. If you have…

Terminal operations at the Port of Montreal remain closed as the strike there continues.  Both parties are still in negotiations to resolve, but it appears that there will be no governmental intervention at this point.  Carriers are not calling the terminals and inbound cargo is being diverted to other ports. For any NASA members who route shipments via Montreal typically, the Canadian port alternatives are Halifax or St. Johns.  It should be noted that there is growing congestion and transit…

A combination of high temperatures, dry conditions and a rare lightning event this week started multiple fires in California, including the Lightning Complex fires (a combination of seven separate fires) in Northern California.  There are also fires burning in parts of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties as well as Butte, Nevada, San Joaquin and Stanislaus. This morning the Lightning Complex fires (Hennessey Fire and Gamble Fire) are impacting parts of Sonoma, Napa and Solano County and is prompting evacuation readiness…

The United States Trade Office handed down their decision today in the scheduled review of the existing European tariffs relating to the civil aircraft dispute.  While they will not escalate current tariffs or add new wine and spirits products, the current 25% tariffs will continue.  This is despite nearly 24,000 industry comments in the comment period, industry lobbying by organizations such as WSWA and NABI and the recent efforts from the bi-partisan letter from Senators urging the US Trade office…

We are pleased to report the dockworkers strike from August 8th – 28th at Bilbao port has been called off. In addition following longer than expected power outages from tropical storm Isaias last week, power is fully restored at Hillebrand’s office in Edison, NJ.

Services at the Port of Montreal have been disrupted over a longshoremen’s union strike that originally was set to end last week on July 31st.  The union continues to negotiate, but effective Monday August 10th, all terminal operations including trucking will be closed until further notice.   Shipping carrier lines (Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC, and OOCL) are all seeing vessel delays due to the labor situation. MSC has some vessels still calling at the port for today and this weekend, with…

The power outages from tropical storm Isaias still continue to affect parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and continues to affect Hillebrand’s offices in Edison New Jersey. Business operations are continuing at this time and several staff working remotely have power, but not all.  Office telephone lines are impacted, so we encourage you to reach out with any questions via email or mobile numbers and but be prepared for some delay in response times.  Please login…

Tropical Storm Isaias has caused widespread power outages in New Jersey and New York, leaving more than a million people without power according to latest news reports.  Port terminals at NY/NJ closed yesterday mid-day and we will update when we have further information on port status.  Hillebrand’s office in Edison, New Jersey has likewise been impacted along with office staff working in areas of outages.  Direct telephone and email communications to New Jersey staff will be impacted, but please login…

Tropical storm winds, rainfall and a few feet of storm surge may bring flooding from the Mid-Atlantic to New England today through tonight.  Port terminals are on high alert with or delayed openings in North Carolina, Virginia, and Charleston.  Port of Miami has reopened today.    Port Terminals at New York / New Jersey (APMT,  PNCT) are now announcing early closures today at 11 Eastern which could negatively impact last free day pickups.      Please note that reduced volume closures continue…