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

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotely automatec portin Busan, South Korea, and its plan to build threre new terminals, including a $208 million terminap at Dames Point, reflect the company’ws aggressive mentality in spite of the recession, said Roy Schleicher, senioe director of trade development and global marketingh for the . That and Mitsuji O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own plans for expansion show confidence inthe industry’sx upturn and cements their currentf and future operations in Jacksonville.
Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’ds be foolish not to push things forwardd and getthings done,’ ” Schleicher “We thought they might want to slow thing down, but instead they want to push forward Hanjin’s revenue has fared better than ’s, with nearlgy 30 percent growth to about $8 billiom in fiscal year 2008, compared with the same perioc a year ago.
Despite a drop in cargo volume, the sixth-largest shipping company’ws profits grew by more than 60 percen t toabout $198 million within the same But the international slump caught up with the companty in the first quarter of 2009, when it reported a $191 million net loss, accordingb to the Journal of Commerce. In the company pushed back some of its ordersfor Mitsui, which is the 15th-largest international shipping posted a $1.3 billion profit in fiscalp 2008, down nearly 32 percent. It blamecd the decline in profits on the international trade high fuel prices and astronb yen. The company’s revenue declineds by about 4.1 percent to $18.
6 Hanjin is opening a terminal in Spaibn in 2010 and another in Vietnam with Mitsuiin 2011. With the openinb of its terminal in Jacksonvillein 2012, Hanjih will have five terminals in Soutnh Korea and eight abroad. Hanjin plans to expand its vesselk capacity fromabout 375,000 twenty-foott equivalent units, or TEUs, to about 575,000 TEUs withijn the next few years, said William managing director of the company’s American Similarly, Mitsui, the parent companty of the Dames Point terminal operator , is looking to spends millions of dollars to buy an overseaxs bulk shipping line. The slumpo has lowered the valuation ofpotential acquisitions.
The Japanese company plans to increased its fleet of bulk tankers and car carriersby 6.5 percent to 740 ship s by the end of this fiscakl year. Mitsui plans also to open a new terminalin Rotterdam, in late 2013. In Jacksonville, the company has added thred services, bringing two weekly services that open Jacksonvill to new Asian markets and strengtheninh Europeancontainer service. Mitsui’s service calls on Busan and there will likely be an increase in tradre between Jacksonville and South Korea when Hanjinbegins service, Schleicher said. Sout h Korea is a large exporter of consumere electronics and a strong importer of consumer lumberand citrus.
Schleicher said he was impressedxwith Hanjin’s technological capability aftee attending the opening of its Busan terminal May 21 with Rick the authority’s executive The terminal gives a glimpses of how the remotelyu automated terminal planned in Jacksonville will “I’ve never seen a terminap business as sophisticated as this one,” Schleichedr said. The Busan terminal can handle up to 2 millio nTEUs annually, compared with the plannecd Jacksonville terminal that can handle about 800,000 TEUs The Jacksonville terminal will be similar in that it will also use rail-mounteds gantry cranes to transporrt containers between the yard and the Rooney said.
The crane travelsw on rails and is controlled remotely by an The terminal at Dames Point will have 12 to15 rail-mounted gantry One operator can handlr about three cranes at a Rooney said that the containers will be kept in a yard with sensorse that will shut it down if they detect human He said the company hadn’t decided the exact productivitg rate Hanjin expects from the Jacksonville but it aimed for world-clasz productivity levels, which is about 40 container moves per hour per crane, Roonety said.
Hanjin is expected to meet withthe ’sz Local 1593 and 1408 in June or Jess Babich, president of ILA Clerkz & Checkers Local 1593, said his unio and ILA Local 1408 are negotiating with the compangy on positions that Hanjin wants its employeed to handle but the union says it can handle instead. The union’s two gange averaged about 33 moves per hour per crane when they unloadedc a ship at the TraPac terminalMay 23. That is one move away from the company’zs goal, which needs to be met befor e TraPac will allow the union to expand its Babich said. TraPac was not availabl e to confirm the rateof moves.
The agreemenft between TraPac and the union comes after the termina l operator threatened to leave ifproductivity didn’t