4 September - 10 September
Port of Savannah Launches Navis Terminal Operating System
Spotlight on Georgia Ports Authority implementing a Navis terminal operating system at the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal to help facilitate data exchanges.
Highlights on East Coast ports of Houston and Savannah snagging West Coast port business due to supply chain disruptions, food production safety concerns, Apple’s new phone price, and more.
Trending discussion on the national average price of diesel dropping 3.1 cents to $5.084 a gallon, according to Energy Information Administration data.
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We have heard about ports, terminals, and authorities implementing new data sharing and exchange systems across the board recently. Federal maritime authorities too are considering integrating communication amongst systems across ports, carriers, and terminals so that all the stakeholders are on the same page regarding cargo movements. Continuing this practice, the Georgia Ports Authority has implemented a Navis terminal operating system at the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal to help facilitate data exchanges between shippers and carriers and improve the speed of cargo movements.
Headquartered in Oakland, California, Navis is a global provider of port and terminal operating systems and carrier and vessel technology solutions. According to Navis, its operating system processes more than 40% of global container volume annually.
The Navis N4 Terminal Operating System was leveraged by the Georgia port authorities to optimize planning, visibility, and asset utilization at the Garden City Terminal. The system essentially eliminates data silos, improves velocity across terminals, and enables port authorities to more easily integrate with customers to provide the data and insights they need.
The Port of Savannah continually experiences record gate volumes, leading it to expedite infrastructure projects that will add 1.7 million TEUs of annual container yard capacity. Data showed that 43 vessels were at anchor this Tuesday, waiting to berth at the Port of Savannah. That continues the trend seen in August, as the number of container ships waiting offshore of North American ports was extremely elevated throughout the month.
Key Takeaway
As mentioned, the Georgia Ports Authority of the GPA is experiencing record volumes, leading to more and more movement at various port terminals. While the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports on the West Coast are finally clearing the port congestion backlog, there remain more vessels at anchor in the Port of Savannah. The GPA needs to manage and expand capacity while clearing the existing backlog so shippers and carriers have enough space to store inventory before moving on.
Launching the Navis N4 Container Terminal Operating System represents a crucial element in the port’s expansion project. The Georgia Ports Authority moved a record 5.75 million twenty-foot equivalent units in its fiscal year 2022. It began the 2023 fiscal year with July volumes that were 18% higher year over year. With such volumes, the port needs a robust data exchange platform to handle traffic in an effective manner. According to a Navis press release, it can help improve the Port of Savannah’s vessel turn times. This is sure to bring more business through the port of Savannah’s gates.
Highlights
- Expect to pay even more for Apple’s new high-end iPhones this year. Apple announced its latest hardware products, including the new iPhone 14, at its launch event Wednesday.
- Today, temperature-controlled cold chain service providers are making massive investments in facilities, locations, and automation to ease the strain and bring back a level of dependability.
- Supply-chain obstacles are forcing US retailers to rewire their shipping routes. East coast ports of Houston, and Savannah are snagging some of the west coast cargo business, with the number of inbound containers arriving at eastern ports rising about 9% in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2021.
- Food production safety has been in the news in recent months, and not for good reasons. An Abbott formula recall and a Family Dollar rodent infestation underscore how systematic failures can compromise safety.
Trending
The national average price of diesel dropped 3.1 cents to $5.084 a gallon, according to Energy Information Administration data on September 5. The price of diesel can impact logistics networks across the USA and determine shipping and trucking costs for the coming days. This price drop comes one week after a 20.6-cent surge pushed diesel to $5.115 a gallon.
A gallon of diesel costs $1.711 more on average than it did at this time in 2021. The average price fell in all 10 regions surveyed by EIA, ranging from a high of 4.2 cents in the Lower Atlantic to just one-tenth of a cent in the Rocky Mountain region. Gasoline shed 8.1 cents a gallon to settle at a national average of $3.746. The steepest decreases were 14.5 cents and 14.4 cents in the Central Atlantic and New England regions, respectively.
The decline marks the 10th week out of the past 11 that the benchmark price, used as the basis for most fuel surcharges, has dropped. The first nine weeks of that decline took the price down 90.1 cents a gallon. The big increase in the Aug. 29 price took it back up 20.6 cents, and now 3.1 cents of that increase has been clawed back by the latest lower posting.
Markets remain concerned about a loss of demand resulting from a global slowdown in activity. That sentiment is so strong that it is overcoming sharp increases in recent weeks in global natural gas prices. The two commodities are not directly linked, but strong rises in one can often spill over to the other, particularly in diesel, where some natural gas applications will turn to diesel as a substitute fuel during times of high natural gas prices.
