Following negative numbers in four of the last five months, import volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to grow 1.7 percent in August over the same month last year and should continue to see gains through the holiday season and the remainder of 2013, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. The year is expected to end with a 2.4-percent increase over 2012.

The market index for Asia to North Europe is still on the decline, with the average for a 20-foot seeing a 19-percent drop since the 26th of May compared to the 26th of June, according to Xeneta, the price comparison service for sea freight. The market average for a 40-foot in Asia to North Europe performed similarly with a 20-percent decline in container shipping rates in the same period.

Port security has become a complicated issue in today's world. Terrorist attacks over the past decade have shown the importance of securing major ports. However, the logistics and costs involved in ensuring the safety of ports have certainly made port security a major problem.

Shipping along the Arctic northern sea route is set to grow more than 30-fold over the next eight years and could account for a quarter of the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia by 2030.

Managing month-to-month changes to services and schedules is now a constant battle for container operators as they strive to keep the spot market from imploding in the current weak demand environment, according to Drewry's latest Container Forecaster report.

Construction has begun on a three-year $1.6bn overhaul of the largest container port in Australia, with Victorian state government saying the work is necessary to avoid capacity constraints and adding that it will create around 1,100 jobs.

CMA CGM is set to open an inland terminal near Abu Ghraib, in the Baghdad Governorate, in June. The shipping group will exclusively manage and operate the facility, which it says will be Iraq's only dry port.

Bollore SA, an investment company controlled by French billionaire Vincent Bollore, is competing to expand its African unit to operate five more port terminals and is eyeing similar growth in Asia and Latin America.

China has assumed control of a strategic Pakistani port on the Arabian Sea, as part of a drive to secure energy and maritime routes that also gives it a potential naval base, sparking Indian concern. The Pakistani cabinet approved the transfer of Gwadar, currently a commercial failure cut off from the national road network, from Singapore's PSA International to the state-owned China company on January 30.