The US Coast Guard issued an updated marine safety bulletin concerning the COVID-19, focusing on the efficient implementation of port and facility operations.The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted to several challenges, such as cruise cruise ships mooring at facilities not approved for passenger operations, garbage removal, and facility and vessel crew interactions.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the government of California wrote a letter to the Trump Administration requesting immediate deployment of the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship to the Port of Los Angeles until September 2020, so as to be prepared in response to the disease.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation bringing several disruptions and delays to the shipping industry, several ports in the US are struggling to remain operational. Among others, the Port of New York and New Jersey along with the South Carolina Ports keep continuing their operations.
Georgia Port Authority informed that Port of Savannah received three Neo-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes, increasing its total to 36. In fact, through this expansion, the port has the largest crane fleet as a single container terminal located in North America.
Port of Long Beach marine terminals announced that they are open and continue operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, having regular vessel calls and scheduled work shifts continuing at the nation’s second-busiest seaport.
The COVID-19 outbreak is expected to have a longer and larger impact on imports at major US retail container ports than previously expected as factory shutdowns and travel restrictions in China continue to affect production, the Global Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates says.
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 outrbeak, the second busiest container port in the US, Port of Long Beach, marked a drop in its cargo handling volume. Namely, the port managed to handle 538.428 TEUs during February, down by 9.8% in comparison to February 2019.
Metro Cruise Services has been notified by public health authorities that three of its part-time employees have tested positive for COVID-19. These employees worked at various cruise terminals in Port Everglades, providing embarkation services.
The Port Canaveral opened its vehicle processing facility, welcoming 730 new vehicles aboard th, 653-foot-long vessel Wisteria Ace, the first vehicle carrier to call at the Port’s facility. The new automobiles were discharged at the Port’s 16-acre auto processing facility located alongside South Cargo Pier 4.
Following the coronavirus outbreak, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) recently issued a statement in which highlighted the impacts that the virus has upon the ports, the shipping industry, the logistics, the economy, and of course the human health.
