News

The U.S. recently signed a strategically important deal with Finland and Canada to build more polar icebreakers, with the total demand over the next decade ranging from 70-90 vessels.  

• Finland has already built >50% of the world’s icebreaker fleet.  

• Canada’s Davie Shipbuilding recently acquired a key Helsinki Shipyard to build icebreakers.   

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The Pharr-Reynosa international bridge between the U.S. and Mexico will undergo a $44m expansion, with the project adding two more cargo truck lanes and two more inspection booths. Once completed, the second bridge will create the Rio Grande Valley’s largest international cargo crossing with Mexico. 

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Less than 24 hours after almost all Canadian rail freight stopped amidst a lockout by the country’s two main rail companies, Canada’s federal government told a labor board to end the shutdown and ordered arbitration.

Steve MacKinnon, Canada’s labor minister, also ordered the labor board to extend the contracts between the union, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, and the two railway companies, Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).

The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), which is independent, will now consult the companies and unions before issuing a new order.

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The freight rail networks of Canada’s Class 1 railroads—Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC)—ceased operating at 00:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 22. The railroads and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) are still negotiating to reach a new labor contract despite the current lockouts.

• On August 9th the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) decided that the two Canadian railways’ services are not essential by law and that no rail services must be maintained during a work stoppage.

• CIRB ordered a 13-day extension of the cooling-off period (ending August 22nd) after which management could issue a lockout notice or rail workers may conduct a legal strike. This has now occurred. 

Please contact your OIA Global sales representative or torontofreight@oiaglobal.com for support with alternative transport solutions.  

With adequate notice, ocean freight shipments can be grounded in Vancouver, Halifax, or Montreal for later transshipment across Canada and the U.S. OIA has strategic handlers located at these ports to support ocean freight transshipments, long-haul domestic road freight, as well as cross-border road freight and airfreight.

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The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) is seeking a significant wage increase in its next six-year contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), its maritime employers on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts. The union is prepared to strike if a new labor deal is not signed before the current contract’s expiration on 30 September 2024. 

If a strike occurs, the container buildup would need to be handled in addition to the normal container flow. Analysts at Sea-Intelligence, a leading shipping advisory firm, estimate that it would take 4-6 days to clear the backlog from just a one-day strike and that a two-week strike would leave the ports without normal operations until 2025. 

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A container carrying hazardous goods exploded aboard Yang Ming’s Mobility while at a box terminal in Ningbo. There are no reports of casualties or injuries to date and the exact cause of the explosion has not been determined yet. 

For context, Ningbo-Zhoushan, located in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, is China’s second-busiest port overall.

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The Cargo Fire & Loss Innovation Initiative (CFLII) will evaluate the use of these early-stage fire detection technologies on container ship decks: Forest Guard, SenseNet, and Mobotix. The three solutions will undergo structured feasibility studies, vessel assessments, and surveys, with successful evaluations leading to future trials on one of the partners’ cargo ships. 

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