An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred on the border between Turkey and Syria, on the morning of 6 February leading many Turkish ports to face operational challenges.

As it is already known, LimakPort Iskenderun, located in the Mediterranean coastal town of Iskenderun in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, was severely damaged, forcing the port authority to suspend the port's operations.

Therefore, global container carriers are taking measures to deal with the operational difficulties in the region. Maersk and COSO have already published customer advisories to inform about the impact on their operations and services.

Given the situation at Iskenderun, Maersk said it will need to perform a change of destination for all bookings bound for the Turkish port or already on the water.

The Panama Canal reports that the 11,000 TEU container vessel Cape Kortia suffered a fire outbreak in its engine room on 30 January while moving toward the PSA port in the Pacific.

The boxship remained briefly on its way to the Pacific Access Channel until it got removed by the Panama Canal staff.

According to a Panama Canal announcement, these maneuvers occurred during its regular transit window and did not cause delays to other ships transiting the Panama Canal.

The fire outbreak is under control, according to Panama Canal, while no injuries were reported during this incident. The relevant authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.

Another vessel seems to have been affected due to the fire accident of Cape Kortia, but at the time of writing the name of the affected ship is not known.

Tianjin Port Group and Huawei, a China-based provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, will expand their collaboration to create a digital twin of the Chinese port.

Yang Jiemin, vice president of Tianjin Port Group, explained that the digital twin of the port will include the construction of new automated terminals, the updating of existing terminals, and the digital transformation of the port.

Yue Kun, chief technology officer of Huawei's Smart Road, Waterway & Port BU, noted that planned upgrades of the terminal will assist a variety of sectors by combining next-generation digital technologies such as 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address industrial challenges, support digital industry transformation and upgrading, and provide social value.

The Port of Tianjin is a big modern port with 300,000-ton-class terminals and a channel depth of 22 meters. It contains 213 different types of berths. In 2022, the Chinese port handled over 21 million TEUs, taking place among the 10 busiest ports in the world.

At the terminal, container cranes operate automatically and intelligent robots of the horizontal transportation system frequently come and go. Additionally, remotely controlled quay cranes lift loaded containers from cargo ships and put them onto the intelligent robots for horizontal transportation.

Mediterranean Shipping Company must pay US furniture maker MCS Industries reparations of almost US$1 million after the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) awarded default judgment to MCS in its breach-of-contract complaint against MSC.

FMC judge Erin Wirth cited MSC’s “willful and deliberate failure to provide discovery” as the Swiss-Italian liner giant had repeatedly failed to comply with the FMC’s order to turn over certain documents relating to its contract with MCS.

Following the acquisition of GEFCO by French CMA CGM Group, the European automotive logistics provider's brand will now become CEVA Logistics.

In particular, CMA CGM's subsidiary CEVA Logistics announced on 10 January the creation of a dedicated Finished Vehicle Logistics (FVL) organisation as part of GEFCO integration process.

According to a statement, any GEFCO’s remaining business, mostly in contract logistics and ground transportation, is going to integrate into CEVA’s existing operations.

CEVA plans to finish integration activities and replace the GEFCO brand worldwide in the next months of the year.

The new product organisation will be under the director of former GEFCO COO Emmanuel Cheremetinski, who will lead a global team of approximately 4,000 employees.