Shippers: What recession? - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotelyy automated portin Busan, South and its plan to build three new terminals, includinb a $208 million terminal at Dames Point, reflect the company’ws aggressive mentality in spite of the said Roy Schleicher, senior director of trade development and global marketing for the . That and Mitsuki O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own planse for expansion show confidencwe inthe industry’s upturn and cements theidr current and future operations in Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’d be foolishn not to push things forwarrd and get things done,’ ” Schleicher “We thought they might want to slow things down, but insteaf they want to push forward Hanjin’s revenue has fared better than with nearly 30 percent growth to about $8 billion in fiscal year 2008, compared with the same periodx a year ago.
Despite a drop in carg volume, the sixth-largest shipping company’z profits grew by more than 60 percentf toabout $198 million within the same period. But the internationa l slump caught up with the company in the first quartefrof 2009, when it reported a $191 millioh net loss, according to the Journal of In response, the company pushed back some of its orderws for ships. Mitsui, which is the 15th-largest international shipping company, postede a $1.3 billion profit in fiscal 2008, down nearly 32 It blamed the decline in profits on the international trade high fuel prices and astrong yen. The company’sz revenue declined by about 4.1 percenty to $18.6 billion.
Hanjinn is opening a terminal in Spain in 2010 and anotherr in Vietnam with Mitsuijin 2011. With the opening of its terminal in Jacksonvillein 2012, Hanjin will have five terminalas in South Korea and eighft abroad. Hanjin plans to expand its vesseo capacity fromabout 375,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or to about 575,000 TEUs withihn the next few years, said William Rooney, managing directodr of the company’s Americanb headquarters. Similarly, Mitsui, the parent company of the Damexs Point terminaloperator , is looking to spenxd millions of dollars to buy an overseas bulk shippintg line. The slump has loweresd the valuation of potential acquisitions.
The Japanese company plans to increasee its fleet of bulk tankers and car carriersby 6.5 percent to 740 ships by the end of this fiscal Mitsui plans also to open a new terminal in Netherlands, in late 2013. In Jacksonville, the companyh has added three services, bringing two weekly servicesz that open Jacksonville to new Asian markets and strengthening Europeabcontainer service. Mitsui’s service calls on Busan and there will likelyg be an increase in trade between Jacksonvills and South Korea when Hanjinbegins service, Schleicher South Korea is a largw exporter of consumer electronics and a stron g importer of consumer goods, lumber and Schleicher said he was impresses with Hanjin’s technological capability after attending the openin of its Busan terminal May 21 with Rick the authority’s executive director.
The terminal gives a glimpse of how the remotelyt automated terminal planned in Jacksonvillewill operate. “I’ve never seen a terminak business as sophisticated asthis one,” Schleicher The Busan terminal can handle up to 2 milliobn TEUs annually, compared with the planned Jacksonville termina that can handle about 800,000 TEUs The Jacksonville terminal will be similar in that it will also use rail-mounterd gantry cranes to transport containersw between the yard and the ship, Rooney The crane travels on rails and is controllesd remotely by an operator.
The terminal at Damese Point will have 12 to15 rail-mounted gantry One operator can handle about three cranes at a Rooney said that the containers will be kept in a yard with sensors that will shut it down if they detect humann motion. He said the company hadn’t decidexd the exact productivity rate Hanjin expects from theJacksonvills terminal, but it aimed for world-class productivityy levels, which is about 40 container moves per hour per Rooney said.
Hanjin is expected to meet withthe ’s Locaol 1593 and 1408 in June or Jess Babich, president of ILA Clerks Checkers Local 1593, said his union and ILA Locak 1408 are negotiating with the company on positionzs that Hanjin wants its employees to handlew but the union says it can handl instead. The union’s two gangs averagedr about 33 moves per hour per crane when they unloadex a ship at the TraPac terminalMay 23. That is one move away from the company’x goal, which needs to be met before TraPac will allosw the union to expand its Babich said. TraPac was not available to confir m the rateof moves.
The agreement betwee TraPac and the unionn comes after the terminal operator threatene to leave ifproductivity didn’t