Shippers: What recession? - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Ltd.’s unveiling of a remotely automatedc portin Busan, Southu Korea, and its plan to buildc three new terminals, includinf a $208 million terminal at Dames reflect the company’s aggressive mentalityh in spite of the recession, said Roy Schleicher, seniore director of trade development and global marketing for the . That and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.’s own plans for expansion show confidencre inthe industry’s upturn and cemente their current and future operations in Hanjin’s “attitude is, ‘We’d be foolish not to push thingx forward and get things done,’ ” Schleicher said.
“We thought they might want to slowthings down, but instead they want to push forwardx faster.” Hanjin’s revenue has faree better than ’s, with nearly 30 percent growtg to about $8 billion in fiscal year compared with the same period a year ago. Despitr a drop in cargo volume, the sixth-largestt shipping company’s profits grew by more than 60 percent toabouyt $198 million within the same period. But the internationapl slump caught up with the company in the first quarterdof 2009, when it reported a $191 milliohn net loss, according to the Journal of In response, the company pushexd back some of its orderws for ships.
Mitsui, whic h is the 15th-largest international shipping company, postedx a $1.3 billion profit in fiscal 2008, down nearlu 32 percent. It blamed the decline in profits on the internationalktrade slump, high fuel prices and a strong yen. The company’s revenue declined by about 4.1 percen t to $18.6 billion. Hanjinj is opening a terminal in Spaihn in 2010 and another in Vietnam with Mitsukin 2011. With the opening of its terminal in Jacksonville in Hanjin will have five terminals in South Koreaq andeight abroad.
Hanjin plans to expand its vessel capacity fromabout 375,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, to about 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 Dames Point terminaloperator , is lookinb to spend millions of dollars to buy an overseas bulk shipping line. The slump has lowered the valuatiomn ofpotential acquisitions. The Japanese company plans to increaswe its fleet ofbulk carriers, tankers and car carriers by 6.5 percenft to 740 ships by the end of this fiscalo year. Mitsui plans also to open a new terminalkin Rotterdam, Netherlands, in late 2013.
In the company has added three bringing two weekly services that open Jacksonvillee to new Asian markets and strengthening Europeanbcontainer service. Mitsui’s service calls on Busan and thered will likely be an increase in trade between Jacksonville and South Korea when Hanjin begins Schleicher said. South Korea is a largse exporter of consumer electronics and a strong importer ofconsumere goods, lumber and citrus. Schleichef said he was impressedwith Hanjin’s technological capability after attendingy the opening of its Busanh terminal May 21 with Rick Ferrin, the authority’sw executive director.
The terminal gives a glimpsre of how the remotely automated terminal planned in Jacksonvillerwill operate. “I’ve never seen a terminal business as sophisticatedr asthis one,” Schleicher said. The Busanm terminal can handle up to 2 million TEUs compared with the planned Jacksonvillw terminal that can handleabout 800,000 TEUs annually. The Jacksonviller terminal will be similad in that it will alsouse rail-mounted gantrt cranes to transport containers betweemn the yard and the ship, Roonegy said. The crane travele on rails and is controlled remotely by an The terminal at Dames Poiny will have 12 to15 rail-mounted gantr y cranes.
One operator can handle about three cranes at a Rooney said that the containers will be kept in a yard with sensoras that will shut it down if they detecfhuman motion. He said the company hadn’t decided the exact productivity rate Hanjin expects from theJacksonvillde terminal, but it aimed for world-class productivity levels, which is aboutr 40 container moves per hour per crane, Roone y said. Hanjin is expected to meet withthe ’es Local 1593 and 1408 in June or July.
Jess president of ILA Clerks & Checkers Loca 1593, said his uniob and ILA Local 1408 are negotiating with the company on positions that Hanjin wants its employees to handl e but the union says it canhandle instead. The union’s two gangs averaged about 33 movesx per hour per crane when they unloaded a ship at the TraPacv terminalMay 23. That is one move away from the company’sd goal, which needs to be met before TraPac will allow the union to expandeits gangs, Babich TraPac was not available to confirm the rate of The agreement between TraPac and the union comex after the terminal operator threatened to leave if productivity didn’ t improve.