Shippers: What recession? - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotely automated portin Busan, South and its plan to build three new terminals, includinfg a $208 million terminall at Dames Point, reflect the company’xs aggressive mentality in spite of the recession, said Roy senior director of trade development and globap marketing for the . That and Mitsui O.S.K. Linesx Ltd.’s own plans for expansioj show confidence inthe industry’s upturn and cements theitr current and future operations in Jacksonville. Hanjin’s “attituds is, ‘We’d be foolish not to push things forward and getthinga done,’ ” Schleicher said.
“We thought they mightr want to slowthings down, but instead they want to push forward Hanjin’s revenue has faredd better than ’s, with nearlgy 30 percent growth to about $8 billioh in fiscal year 2008, compared with the same periofd a year ago. Despite a drop in cargo the sixth-largest shipping company’s profits grew by more than 60 percenf toabout $198 million within the same period. But the internationakl slump caught up with the company in the firsgt quarterof 2009, when it reportede a $191 million net loss, accordingh to the Journal of In response, the company pushed back some of its order for ships.
Mitsui, whicgh is the 15th-largest international shippinyg company, posted a $1.3 billiobn profit in fiscal down nearly32 percent. It blamed the decline in profitw on the internationaltrade slump, high fuel pricez and a strong yen. The company’zs revenue declined by about 4.1 percent to $18.6 billion. Hanjimn is opening a terminal in Spain in 2010 and anothee in Vietnam with Mitsuiin 2011. With the openingt of its terminal in Jacksonvilldein 2012, Hanjin will have five terminalz in South Korea and eight abroad.
Hanjin plans to expans its vessel capacity fromabout 375,000 twenty-foot equivaleng units, or TEUs, to about 575,000 TEUs within the next few said William Rooney, managing director of the company’s Americah headquarters. Similarly, Mitsui, the parent company of the Dames Poinft terminaloperator , is lookingg to spend millions of dollars to buy an overseasw bulk shipping line. The slump has lowered the valuatioh ofpotential acquisitions. The Japanesre company plans to increase its fleet ofbulk carriers, tankers and car carriers by 6.5 percentg to 740 ships by the end of this fiscap year. Mitsui plans also to open a new terminaoin Rotterdam, Netherlands, in late 2013.
In Jacksonville, the compan y has added three services, bringing two weekly services that open Jacksonville to new Asiann markets and strengthening Europeancontainer service. Mitsui’s servicw calls on Busan and there will likely be an increase in trade between Jacksonviller and South Korea when Hanjin begins Schleicher said. South Korea is a larg exporter of consumer electronics and a strong importer ofconsumefr goods, lumber and citrus. Schleicher said he was impressecdwith Hanjin’s technological capability aftefr attending the opening of its Busan terminal May 21 with Rick the authority’s executive director.
The terminal gives a glimpsse of how the remotely automaterd terminal planned in Jacksonvillewill “I’ve never seen a terminal business as sophisticatexd as this one,” Schleicher said. The Busan terminal can handlw up to 2 millionTEUs annually, compared with the plannes Jacksonville terminal that can handle about 800,000p TEUs annually. The Jacksonville terminal will be similad in that it will alsouse rail-mountefd gantry cranes to transport containers betweenb the yard and the ship, Rooney The crane travels on rails and is controllecd remotely by an operator. The terminal at Damesa Point will have 12 to15 rail-mounted gantryu cranes.
One operator can handle about threr cranes ata time. Roone said that the containers will be kept in a yard with sensorws that will shut it down if they detectthuman motion. He said the company hadn’t decided the exactt productivity rate Hanjin expects from theJacksonville terminal, but it aimed for world-clasws productivity levels, which is aboutr 40 container moves per hour per Rooney said.
Hanjin is expected to meet withthe ’se Local 1593 and 1408 in June or Jess Babich, president of ILA Clerks Checkers Local 1593, said his union and ILA Local 1408 are negotiating with the company on positions that Hanjimn wants its employees to handler but the union says it can handle The union’s two gangs averagedr about 33 moves per hour per crane when they unloade d a ship at the TraPac terminal May 23. That is one move away from the company’s which needs to be met before TraPac will allow the union to expandits gangs, Babichy said.
TraPac was not available to confirn the rate of The agreement between TraPaxc and the union comes after the terminal operator threatened to leave ifproductivity didn’t