Drewry Maritime Research's latest Annual Review of Global Container Terminal Operators report shows that whilst some things have remained the same, others have changed significantly with more change to come.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 8.5 percent in September compared with the same month last year, and strong increases are expected into the holiday season despite talk of a possible strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

North American freight volumes continued to drop off, and on a year-over-year basis, shipment volumes were down 1.1 percent from last August. This is the third time this year freight shipments have fallen below the level for the same month in 2011. Freight volumes grew 9.9 percent during the first half of the year, but after two months of consecutive contraction, the annual growth has fallen to 8.0 percent.

CEVA Logistics has expanded its less-than-containerload (LCL) ocean freight services into the U.S. Midwest.

Increasing labor costs in China's heavily industrialized areas, mostly along the coastline, are driving many companies to move production to the country's inland regions, creating a number of logistics and supply chain challenges, according to Greg Spudic, vice president of North American sales and marketing for Dimerco Express.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 6.3 percent in August compared with the same month last year, and 2012 should show an increase of 4.8 percent over last year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Cargo volumes dropped steadily at Frankfurt Airport during the first half of 2012, Fraport Group traffic figures show. In addition to recording a 9.9-percent, year-over-year, drop in domestic freight volumes, the airport saw an overall tonnage stall of 9 percent from the first six months of 2011. The declines were "strengthened" by the night-flight ban imposed last fall.

The CMA CGM Group is upgrading its weekly, fixed-day Brazil Express (Brazex) container service, with the introduction of two new Brazilian ports, Manaus and Salvador de Bahia, to the rotation.

The world's container equipment fleet grew by 8.5 percent during 2011, taking the global fleet to 31.25 million TEUs, compared to a 7-percent growth in 2010, according to Container Census 2012 - Survey and Forecast of Global Container Units, analysis from Drewry Maritime Research.

The logistics group of Crowley Maritime Corp. has expanded its service to include less-than-containerload (LCL) ocean and air-cargo lifts, as well as customs brokerage services, to Cartagena, Colombia from key points within the U.S. and Latin America.