The American Association of Port Authorities suggested that its member ports intend to spend over $150bn in combined infrastructure investments by 2020 - contrasted with a "best-case" government investment in port-related freight infrastructure of only $25bn over the same period.

Following up on last fall's successful campaign to include a port performance statistics program in the federal long-term surface transportation bill, the National Retail Federation now leads a coalition of more than 100 groups in sending specific recommendations to the Department of Transportation.

Tired of waiting for Congress, states racing to deepen seaports before the opening of the enlarged Panama Canal next year are picking up the cost of what has traditionally been a federal duty.

China is planning to build a second Hong Kong city in Nansha, a district in southern China's Guangdong province.

U.S. vessel imports were up 3.7 percent from 2012, which totaled over 18.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot containers) brought into the United States last year. U.S. imports in 2013 started off at a slow start but ended with a surprising and unexpected surge from July through December. Annual TEUs haven't been this high since 2007, which is a good sign for a strong recession rebound in the U.S. trade industry. So far in 2014, the first three weeks of imports in January are already 5.2 percent higher than the same time last year.

Long waiting lines of incoming trucks at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach create an unacceptable drag on productivity, says Mike Stark, president and CEO of Pacer Distribution Services and an active member of the Harbor Trucking Association. Stark explains how adaptive appointment software could help remedy this situation.