With all the visitors coming to our fair city in the next week, beginning with the thousands flooding into town today for the Rock ’n’ Roll Savannah Marathon and Half Marathon and continuing with the 2,000-plus preservationists here Tuesday through Friday for PastForward, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual conference, it seems like a good time to talk about one of Savannah’s favorite pastimes — shipwatching.
From today through next week, anyone on River Street, Bay Street, across the river on Hutchinson Island or on Tybee’s north end will have the opportunity to see Savannah’s impressive maritime traffic up close as more than a dozen ships a day – from tankers to barges to container ships pass Tybee and the city front.
Among them will be the NYK Arcadia, the largest container ship ever to call on the port of Savannah. Due in Wednesday, the Arcadia can handle as many as 9,600 containers, although it will have considerably fewer due to the depth restrictions in the Savannah River channel.
If you miss the Arcadia, there are plenty more to see.
The best way to know what you’re looking at is the website marinetracker.com, which provides free real-time information to the public about ship movements and ports, mainly along the coast.
Clicking on the ships marker will
– usually – give you its name, type of ship, destination and often a photo.
West Coast talks get ugly
They’ve been negotiating nearly six months, moving well past the July 1 expiration of their contract. Still, talks between the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents more than 70 multinational ocean carriers and maritime companies, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union seemed to be relatively amicable — until recently.
This week, the PMA publicly accused the ILWU of intentional slowdowns at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma and wreaking havoc during the peak holiday shipping season. The ILWU fired back, calling the accusation “a bold-faced lie” designed to smear the union while deflecting responsibility from a West Coast congestion problem that is getting worse by the day.
Those dueling press statements could indicate serious problems in the coast-wide contract negotiations that have been underway since mid-May, noted Journal of Commerce associate web editor Grace Lavigne.
Writing in the journal’s Daily Newswire Thursday, Lavigne said the work slowdowns that began last Friday at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma are intensifying.
“Terminal operators say they can’t adequately work vessels, and vessel operators are left with few alternatives, as Los Angeles-Long Beach has been crushed by congestion for weeks and the Canadian port of Prince Rupert is already overflowing with cargo from U.S. ports,” she said.
Meanwhile, container ships remain stacked up at anchor in the waters outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, waiting for berths as congestion issues continue to snarl traffic there.
A survey published by JOC.com earlier this week indicated shippers expect congestion at the largest port complex in the Americas to worsen, with at least half of the 100-plus shippers surveyed saying their containers are sitting at LA-LB terminals between five and 10 days.
What does this left-coast upheaval mean for the Port of Savannah?
It could mean plenty, if there is a work stoppage or if congestion continues to slow shipping on the other side of the country.
Remember, it was the Port of Savannah’s readiness to serve those West Coast customers during the 10-day West Coast work stoppage in 2002 that helped turn many temporary customers into permanent ones. Already, Savannah and other East Coast ports have seen an uptick in volume from shippers hedging their bets.
Even at more than 3 million containers a year, Georgia Ports has plenty of capacity to grow should the West Coast problems send more business their way.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
SHIPPING SCHEDULE
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT PAGO Today
GCT MAERSK MISSOURI Today
GCT MSC SILVANA Today
GCT BARGE B31 Today
GCT MAERSK DETROIT Today
GCT MOL EXPRESS Today
OT SAFMARINE SUGUTA Today
OT TIJUCA Today
OT GRANDE CONGO Today
GCT MAERSK KENTUCKY Saturday
GCT HS COLUMBIA Saturday
GCT XIN WU HAN Saturday
OT STAR KILIMANJARO Saturday
GCT NYK FURANO Sunday
GCT MSC BELLATRIX Sunday
GCT YM MATURITY Sunday
GCT NYK NEBULA Sunday
GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESS Sunday
GCT KAETHE P Sunday
GCT NYK ARCADIA Sunday
OT FIDELIO Sunday
GCT OOCL VANCOUVER Monday
GCT HYUNDAI GRACE Monday
GCT EVER LEGEND Monday
GCT WEHR SINGAPORE Monday
GCT CORNELIA MAERSK Monday
GCT MOL PARAMOUNT Tuesday
GCT HANJIN SAN DIEGO Tuesday
GCT ZIM LUANDA Tuesday
GCT YM EMINENCE Tuesday
GCT MOL ENCORE Tuesday
GCT TOKYO EXPRESS Tuesday
GCT NYK CLARA Tuesday
OT BAHRI JEDDAH Tuesday
GCT ISLANDIA Wednesday
GCT CMA CGM JAMAICA Wednesday
GCT CORCOVADO Wednesday
GCT MSC MARIANNA Wednesday
GCT MSC ROMA Wednesday
GCT SEA-LAND MERCURY Wednesday
GCT HANJIN MARSEILLES Wednesday
GCT FRISIA ROTTERDAM Thursday
GCT MSC ARUSHI R. Thursday
GCT ALIDRA Thursday
GCT STADT GERA Thursday
GCT MSC SHAULA Thursday
GCT ZIM SAN FRANCISCO Thursday
GCT GUANG DONG BRIDGE Thursday