b'16American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comNew Englands portsEimskip and the Port of Portland, MEbuilding their niche Eimskips calls at the Port of Portland provide unique service for Pine Tree State shippers. By AJOT Staff By George Lauriat, AJOTP orT ofB osTon T heh uB the Francis Scott Key Bridge out- The Port of Portland, Maine and the Icelandicthe port.ThePortofBostonisside Baltimore Harbor.ocean carrier Eimskip have an almost unique rela-unquestionably the Hub (withAnotherindicatorofthetionship for this era of shifting ocean carrier alli- T heP orTlAnDc AllapologiestoOliverWendellincreased activity at the Port ofances and blank sailings. And it is a relationshipIn the case of the Port of Portland, EimskipHolmeswhoiscreditedwithDavisville is Seaview Railroad,advantageous to the port, the carrier and a wideningwhich literally means steamship in Icelandiccoining the expression) of Newwhich operates on 14 miles ofcustomer base in New England. is the only regular steamship line calling the port. Englandsinternationaltrade.trackthroughoutthebusinessEimskip, which celebrated its 110th anniver- And Portland is Eimskips homeport in the US and AndthePortofBostonisitspark.Theshortlinebrokeitssary on January 17th, 2024, being a niche oceanthe weekly call is part of the Transatlantic Green largestcontainerport.Buttheannual record for rail car volumecarrierthe worlds only pan-Arctic steamshipLine service. This service offers weekly departures Port of Boston, Paul W. ConleyatQuonsetBusinessParkbylinehas developed an unusually close relation- from and arrivals to the Port of Portland, Maine - Container Terminal, run by themoving 7,513 rail cars in 2023.ship with diverse port partners. While the Eimskipsto and fromIceland, the Faroe Islands, Northern MassachusettsPortAuthority,Seaview hauls a variety of rawcalls include name ports like Portland, Maine; Hal- Europe, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, the Bal-betterknownasMassport,ismaterials and finished productsifax,NovaScotia;Reykjavik,Icelandandothertics, and the Mediterranean. besieged on all sides by largerto and from Quonset businesseswell-known European ports, many other ports likeHowever, there is a bit of a back story to Eim-containerports.ThePortofbeforeconnectingtorailroadsArgentiainNewfoundland,NuukinGreenland,skips decision to call in the Port of Portland. As Montrealisaround300milesthroughout the region. (see G&WThorshavn in the Faroe Islands, or Batsfjord andGylfi Sigfusson, CEO of Eimskip USA related in north, Port of Halifax just overstory on page 14) KirkenesinthefarnorthernreachesofNorwayan interview with AJOT, Eimskip got caught up by 479 miles northeast (almost 100But besides the auto imports,are calls unique to Eimskips liner scheduleathe geo-politics of the US base closures. In 2006 more by land) and Port of Newtheporthasalsobeenontheschedule thats literally one of kind. And in manythe US military left its military base in Iceland and York/NewJersey,alittleoverforefrontoftheoffshorewindof the ports, Eimskip is often the only ocean carrierbecausearound35%ofour[Eimskips]volume 200 miles to the southwest. AndpowerpushinNewEnglandregularly calling and is responsible for the relatedwas military related cargo going from Norfolk, Vir-besides these nearby ports, add(NICHEcontinued onlogistics associated with the ship calla relation- ginia to Iceland for the base in Keflavik, Iceland, in the factor that ports through- page 18) ship that is efficient for the carrier and effective for(EIMSKIPcontinued on page 18)out the entire Northeast corridor, down as far south as the recently blocked Port of Baltimore,(see DanRonanstoryonpage26)THE BOSTON SHIPPING ASSOCIATION, INC are also competing with Boston for freight, and ship calls.Back in 2022 Massport com- HELPING CONNECT pletedamassive$850million upgradetoConleyTerminal which along with dredging hasGOODS AND PEOPLE made the terminal able to handle linehaulsizecontainerships in the 14,000 plus TEU range, keepingthePortcompetitiveSINCE 1946with Northeast rivals. Thefirstimpactsofthe upgrades were noticed in 2023 as the Port handled 236,975 TEUs compared to the 173,926 TEUs in 2022, a 36% change. The big statisticforMassportwasthe import TEUsfrom Asiawhich were up 80% to nearly 80,000 TEUs.Thiswasalsoreflected intotalvesselcallswhichhit 227comparedin2023to130 in2022.Intheearlygoingin 2024 (through March) the trend is holding as Asian import TEUs are up to 25% to 19,493 com-pared to 15,559 in 2023. Over-all,totalTEUsthroughMarch 2024 are up 62,116 compared to 52,316 compared to 2023 for the same period.Theportalsomaygeta boostfromthediversionof freight from the Port of Balti-more, but it is too early to say how that will have an impact on the overall numbers. Perhaps a bigger question is whether the PanamaCanallowwaterwill continue throughout 2024 slow-ing down Asian business. Early signs say it may be recovering which would be good news for the Port of Boston and all the Northeast ports. P orT ofD Avisvilleri: A mericAsl ArgesTs mAllP orTg eTTingB iggerThe Port of Davisville, which islocatedwithintheQuonset DevelopmentCorporationbusi-nesspark,hasregularlybeenOn behalf of its maritime employer members, the Boston Shipping Association (BSA) carries out its mission by facilitating in the top ten auto ports in thecollaboration between its members, labor unions and maritime stakeholders and by negotiating and administrating union UnitedStates,andhasbeencollective bargaining agreements. Through its actions the BSA seeks to encourage the protection and growth of traditional calledAmericasbiggestsmallmaritime industries in the Port of Boston and emphasize the safety of those industries and their workers. port. In 2023 The Port handled 200,000 plus autos in 2023 and thenumbercouldincreasein 2024byasmuchas25%,or 4,000vehiclespermonth,asaWWW.BOSTONSHIPPINGASSOC.COM result of the realignment of ship-ping traffic due to the collapse of'