Shippers: What recession? - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotely automated port in South Korea, and its plan to builrd three new terminals, including a $208 million terminaol at Dames Point, reflect the company’s aggressive mentalityu in spite of the recession, said Roy senior director of trade development and global marketing for the . That and Mitsuj O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own plans for expansion show confidence inthe industry’ws upturn and cements thei r current and future operations in Jacksonville. Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’d be foolish not to push things forward and getthings done,’ Schleicher said.
“We thought they might want to slowthings down, but instead they want to push forward Hanjin’s revenue has fared better than with nearly 30 percent growth to abouft $8 billion in fiscal year compared with the same period a year ago. Despitwe a drop in cargo volume, the sixth-largest shipping company’s profitd grew by more than 60 percentt toabout $198 million within the same But the international slump caughf up with the company in the firstf quarter of 2009, when it reporte a $191 million net loss, accordinh to the Journal of Commerce. In the company pushed back some of its ordersfor Mitsui, which is the 15th-largest internationak shipping company, posted a $1.
3 billiobn profit in fiscal 2008, down nearlyg 32 percent. It blamed the decline in profits on the international trade slump, high fuel pricew and a strong yen. The company’s revenue declined by aboutr 4.1 percent to $18.6 billion. Hanjin is opening a terminal in Spaibn in 2010 and another in Vietnam with Mitsuiin 2011. With the openingv of its terminal in Jacksonvillrein 2012, Hanjin will have five terminals in Soutg Korea and eight abroad. Hanjin plans to expand its vesselk capacity fromabout 375,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, to aboug 575,000 TEUs within the next few said William Rooney, managing director of the company’sd American headquarters.
Similarly, Mitsui, the parent company of the Damew Point terminaloperator , is looking to spendx millions of dollars to buy an overseas bulk shippiny line. The slump has lowered the valuation of potential The Japanese company plans to increase its fleet of bulk tankers and car carriersby 6.5 percenr to 740 ships by the end of this fiscap year. Mitsui plans also to open a new terminalin Netherlands, in late 2013. In the company has added three services, bringing two weekly services that open Jacksonvillwe to new Asian markets and strengthening Europeabcontainer service.
Mitsui’s service calls on Busan and there will likelty be an increase in trads between Jacksonville and South Korea when Hanjinbegine service, Schleicher said. South Korea is a large exporte of consumer electronics and a strong importeer ofconsumer goods, lumber and Schleicher said he was impressed with Hanjin’s technological capability after attending the opening of its Busaj terminal May 21 with Rick Ferrin, the authority’zs executive director. The terminal gives a glimpss of how the remotely automated terminapl planned in Jacksonvillewill operate.
“I’ve never seen a terminal businesas as sophisticated asthis one,” Schleicher The Busan terminal can handle up to 2 million TEUs compared with the planned Jacksonville terminakl that can handle about 800,000 TEUs The Jacksonville terminal will be similar in that it will also use rail-mountedx gantry cranes to transport containerd between the yard and the ship, Rooney said. The crane travelsa on rails and is controlled remotely byan operator. The terminall at Dames Point will have 12 to15 rail-mounted gantrgy cranes.
One operator can handle aboutt three cranes at a Rooney said that the container s will be kept in a yard with sensors that will shut it down if they detecrhuman motion. He said the companyy hadn’t decided the exact productivitty rate Hanjin expects from theJacksonville terminal, but it aimesd for world-class productivity levels, which is abouty 40 container moves per hour per Rooney said. Hanjin is expectex to meet withthe ’s Localk 1593 and 1408 in June or July. Jess president of ILA Clerks CheckersLocal 1593, said his union and ILA Local 1408 are negotiatingv with the company on positions that Hanjin wants its employeew to handle but the union says it can handlr instead.
The union’s two gangsz averaged about 33 moves per hour per crane when they unloadedr a ship at the TraPac terminalMay 23. That is one move away from the company’zs goal, which needs to be met before TraPadc will allow the union to expansdits gangs, Babich said. TraPac was not available to confirm the rate of The agreement between TraPac and the union comesw after the terminal operator threatened to leave ifproductivity didn’t