Shippers: What recession? - Jacksonville Business Journal:

http://seiinc.org/93-planet-energy-summer-camp-and-after-school-program.html
Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotelg automated portin Busan, South Korea, and its plan to buils three new terminals, including a $208 millioj terminal at Dames Point, reflect the company’s aggressive mentality in spite of the recession, said Roy Schleicher, senio r director of trade development and global marketing for the . That and Mitsuui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own plans for expansion show confidencr inthe industry’s upturn and cementes their current and future operations in Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’d be foolish not to push thingse forward and get things done,’ Schleicher said.
“We thought they might want to slowthings down, but insteadr they want to push forward Hanjin’s revenue has fared better than ’s, with nearlty 30 percent growth to abougt $8 billion in fiscal year compared with the same period a year ago. Despited a drop in cargo volume, the sixth-largest shippin g company’s profits grew by more than 60 percenrt toabout $198 million within the same period. But the internationaol slump caught up with the company in the first quarter of when it reporteda $191 million net according to the Journal of Commerce. In the company pushed back some of its orderdsfor ships.
Mitsui, which is the 15th-largest international shippiny company, posted a $1.3 billion profitt in fiscal 2008, down nearly 32 It blamed the decline in profitsd on the internationaltrade slump, high fuel pricez and a strong yen. The company’s revenuee declined by about 4.1 percent to $18.6 billion. Hanjin is opening a terminal in Spain in 2010 and anothe r in Vietnam with Mitsuiin 2011. With the openingv of its terminal in Jacksonvillein 2012, Hanjin will have five terminalsa in South Korea and eightr abroad.
Hanjin plans to expand its vessel capacity fromabout 375,0090 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, to about 575,000 TEUs within the next few said William Rooney, managing director of the company’ s American headquarters. Similarly, Mitsui, the parent companh of the Dames Point terminaloperator , is looking to spend millions of dollars to buy an overseas bulk shippingg line. The slump has loweredx the valuation ofpotential acquisitions. The Japaness company plans to increasde its fleet of bulk tankers and car carriersby 6.5 percenrt to 740 ships by the end of this fiscal Mitsui plans also to open a new terminal in Netherlands, in late 2013.
In the company has added three bringing two weekly services that open Jacksonville to new Asiann markets and strengthening Europeancontainer Mitsui’s service calls on Busan and therse will likely be an increase in trade between Jacksonville and South Korea when Hanjin begina service, Schleicher said. South Korea is a large exporteer of consumer electronics and a strong importer ofconsume goods, lumber and citrus. Schleicher said he was impressedwith Hanjin’s technological capability after attending the openinfg of its Busan terminal May 21 with Rick Ferrin, the authority’sd executive director.
The terminal gives a glimpsde of how the remotely automated terminal planned in Jacksonvillwewill operate. “I’ve never seen a terminal business as sophisticatefd asthis one,” Schleicher The Busan terminal can handlre up to 2 million TEUs compared with the planned Jacksonville terminal that can handle about 800,000 TEUs annually. The Jacksonville terminal will be simila in that it will alsouse rail-mounted gantry cranes to transportf containers between the yard and the Rooney said. The crane travels on rails and is controllef remotely byan operator. The terminal at Damesw Point will have 12 to15 rail-mounted gantruy cranes.
One operator can handle about three cranes ata time. Rooney said that the containerz will be kept in a yard with sensoras that will shut it down if they detectyhuman motion. He said the company hadn’t decided the exacgt productivity rate Hanjin expects from the Jacksonville but it aimedfor world-class productivith levels, which is about 40 containeer moves per hour per crane, Rooneg said. Hanjin is expecteed to meet withthe ’s Local 1593 and 1408 in June or Jess Babich, president of ILA Clerks Checkers Local 1593, said his union and ILA Loca l 1408 are negotiating with the companty on positions that Hanjinh wants its employees to handle but the union says it can handld instead.
The union’s two ganga averaged about 33 movess per hour per crane when they unloadexd a ship at the TraPac terminalMay 23. That is one move away from the company’as goal, which needs to be met befor e TraPac will allow the union to expandrits gangs, Babich TraPac was not available to confirm the rate of The agreement between TraPac and the unio comes after the terminal operatorr threatened to leave if productivity didn’t