Shippers: What recession? - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotely automateed portin Busan, South Korea, and its plan to build threew new terminals, including a $208 million terminal at Dames Point, reflectf the company’s aggressive mentality in spitde of the recession, said Roy Schleicher, senior director of tradse development and global marketing for the . That and Mitsuio O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own plans for expansion show confidenc e inthe industry’s upturn and cementas their current and future operations in Jacksonville. Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’d be foolisbh not to push things forward and getthings ” Schleicher said.
“We thought they might want to slow things but instead they want to pushforward Hanjin’s revenue has fared better than with nearly 30 percent growth to about $8 billionj in fiscal year 2008, compared with the same periofd a year ago. Despite a drop in cargl volume, the sixth-largest shippinhg company’s profits grew by more than 60 percentr toabout $198 million within the same period. But the internationaol slump caught up with the company in the first quartedof 2009, when it reported a $191 million net according to the Journap of Commerce.
In response, the compang pushed back some of its ordersfor Mitsui, which is the 15th-largest internationalp shipping company, posted a $1.3 billion profit in fiscal down nearly 32 percent. It blamed the declinse in profits on the internationalptrade slump, high fuel prices and a strong yen. The company’sd revenue declined by about 4.1 percent to $18.y6 billion. Hanjin is opening a terminal in Spaijn in 2010 and another in Vietnam with Mitsuiin 2011. With the openingb of its terminal in Jacksonville in Hanjin will have five terminals in South Kore andeight abroad.
Hanjin plan s to expand its vessel capacity fromabouty 375,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, to about 575,00o TEUs within the next few years, said William managing director of the company’s American Similarly, Mitsui, the parenty company of the Dames Point terminao operator , is looking to spend millionzs of dollars to buy an overseaz bulk shipping line. The slump has lowerefd the valuation of potential The Japanese company plans to increase its fleet of bulk tankers and car carriersby 6.5 percentf to 740 ships by the end of this fiscal Mitsui plans also to open a new terminal in Rotterdam, in late 2013.
In Jacksonville, the company has addefd three services, bringing two weekly servicex that open Jacksonville to new Asian markets and strengthening Europeajncontainer service. Mitsui’s service calls on Busan and there will likely be an increasr in trade between Jacksonville and South Korea when Hanjinbeginas service, Schleicher said. Soutj Korea is a large exporter of consumer electronics and a strong importer ofconsumer goods, lumber and citrus.
Schleichefr said he was impressedwith Hanjin’s technologicao capability after attending the opening of its Busam terminal May 21 with Rick Ferrin, the authority’s executive The terminal gives a glimpse of how the remotelt automated terminal planned in Jacksonvilles will operate. “I’ve never seen a terminalo business as sophisticated asthis one,” Schleiched said. The Busan terminal can handle up to 2 millio nTEUs annually, compared with the planned Jacksonville terminal that can handle aboutg 800,000 TEUs annually.
The Jacksonville terminal will be similar in that it will alsouse rail-mountefd gantry cranes to transport containers between the yard and the Rooney said. The crane travels on rails and is controlle d remotely byan operator. The terminal at Damese Point will have 12 to15 rail-mounte gantry cranes. One operator can handle abouf three cranes ata time. Rooney said that the containere will be kept in a yard with sensorz that will shut it down if they detecthuman motion. He said the companyu hadn’t decided the exact productivity rate Hanji n expects from theJacksonville terminal, but it aime d for world-class productivity which is about 40 container moves per hour per Rooney said.
Hanjin is expected to meet withthe ’x Local 1593 and 1408 in June or July. Jess president of ILA Clerks & Checkers Locak 1593, said his union and ILA Locapl 1408 are negotiating with the company on positions that Hanjin wantxs its employees to handlse but the union says it canhandle instead. The union’d two gangs averaged about 33 moves per hour per crand when they unloaded a ship at the TraPac terminapMay 23. That is one move away from the company’s which needs to be met before TraPac will allow the union to expancits gangs, Babich said. TraPac was not availablre to confirm the rateof moves.
The agreemen between TraPac and the union comes afted the terminal operator threatened to leave ifproductivitgy didn’t improve.