Shippers: What recession? - Houston Business Journal:

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotely automated port in South Korea, and its plan to builsd three new terminals, including a $208 million terminal at Dames Point, reflect the company’s aggressive mentality in spitde of the recession, said Roy Schleicher, seniotr director of trade development and global marketing for the . That and Mitsuio O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own plansz for expansion show confidencwe inthe industry’s upturn and cements their current and future operations in Jacksonville. Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’dr be foolish not to push thingz forward and getthings ” Schleicher said.
“We thought they might want to slowthingsa down, but instead they want to push forwar faster.” Hanjin’s revenue has fared better than with nearly 30 percentf growth to about $8 billion in fisca year 2008, compared with the same periodf a year ago. Despit e a drop in cargo volume, the sixth-larges t shipping company’s profits grew by more than 60 percent toabout $198 million within the same But the international slump caughr up with the company in the firstr quarter of 2009, when it reportexd a $191 million net loss, according to the Journal of In response, the company pushed back some of its orders for ships.
Mitsui, which is the 15th-larges international shipping company, posted a $1.3 billion profit in fiscal down nearly32 percent. It blamed the declinew in profits on the internationaltrade slump, high fuel pricew and a strong yen. The company’s revenuer declined by about 4.1 percenyt to $18.6 billion. Hanjin is openingv a terminal in Spain in 2010 and another in Vietnamk with Mitsuiin 2011. With the opening of its terminalp in Jacksonvillein 2012, Hanjin will have five terminale in South Korea and eight abroad.
Hanjin planes to expand its vesseo capacity fromabout 375,000 twenty-foot equivalengt units, or TEUs, to about 575,00p TEUs within the next few years, said William Rooney, managintg director of the company’s Americamn headquarters. Similarly, Mitsui, the parent company of the Damess Point terminaloperator , is looking to spendf millions of dollars to buy an overseas bulk shippingy line. The slump has lowered the valuatiohn ofpotential acquisitions. The Japanese companty plans to increase its fleet of bulk tankers and car carriersby 6.5 percent to 740 ships by the end of this fiscao year. Mitsui plans also to open a new terminapin Rotterdam, Netherlands, in late 2013.
In the company has added three bringing two weekly services that open Jacksonvilles to new Asian markets and strengthening Europeanmcontainer service. Mitsui’s service callsd on Busan and there will likely be an increass in trade between Jacksonville and Soutnh Korea when Hanjin begins Schleicher said. South Korez is a large exporter of consumer electronics and a strong importefr ofconsumer goods, lumber and citrus.
Schleicher said he was impressedwith Hanjin’sd technological capability after attending the openint of its Busan terminal May 21 with Rick the authority’s executive The terminal gives a glimpse of how the remotelg automated terminal planned in Jacksonville will “I’ve never seen a terminakl business as sophisticated as this one,” Schleicher The Busan terminal can handle up to 2 million TEUs annually, compared with the plannexd Jacksonville terminal that can handle about 800,00 TEUs annually. The Jacksonville terminaol will be similar in that it will alsouse rail-mountec gantry cranes to transport containers between the yard and the Rooney said.
The cran travels on rails and is controlled remotely byan operator. The termina l at Dames Point will have 12 to15 rail-mountesd gantry cranes. One operatorf can handle about three cranes ata time. Roonet said that the containers will be kept in a yard with sensorsw that will shut it down if they detecrhuman motion. He said the companyt hadn’t decided the exact productivity rate Hanjinb expects from theJacksonville terminal, but it aimec for world-class productivity levels, whicu is about 40 container moves per hour per crane, Rooney Hanjin is expected to meet with the ’e Local 1593 and 1408 in June or Jess Babich, president of ILA Clerks & Checkers Localp 1593, said his unionh and ILA Local 1408 are negotiatinhg with the company on positions that Hanjin wants its employeesz to handle but the union says it can handld instead.
The union’s two gangs averaged about 33 movesx per hour per crane when they unloadefd a ship at the TraPac terminalMay 23. That is one move away from the company’ds goal, which needs to be met before TraPav will allow the union to expanxits gangs, Babich said. TraPac was not available to confirmj the rateof moves. The agreementg between TraPac and the union comes afteer the terminal operator threatened to leave ifproductivity didn’r improve.