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Days after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on the U.S. Gulf Coast, Texas ports are still working on getting reopened. Task force officials, headed by the Coast Guard, are in the beginning stages of assessing the conditions of the ports to determine what needs to be done before vessels can begin returning to the ports.  As of Wednesday, the ports of Houston, Texas City, Galveston, Corpus Christi and Freeport were reopened for some vessel traffic including tugs and barges, but not without restrictions, and traffic is only allowed during daylight hours.

The US Coast Guard continues to restrict ship movements at major Texas ports as Hurricane Harvey proved itself stronger than anticipated and brought along with it unprecedented flooding. Texas ports are still recovering and most remain closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.  With severe weather anticipated through Thursday, the US Coast Guard predicts ports will re-open once channels appear to be safe and travel can resume.

ILWU Contract Extension 

After months of rumors, last week Cosco and Shanghi International Port Grp. (SIPG) put in an offer to acquire Orient Overseas International Grp (OOIL) and their container shipping line OOCL. If and when the two companies combine, Cosco plans to hold 90.1% of OOIL’s shares, while SIPG will hold the remaining 9.9% of the shares.