West Coast Ports Facing More Competition
Ports on the East and Gulf Coasts are expanding in an attempt to wrest away business from West Coast ports, including the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complex, the nation’s largest, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
Last year, world ocean shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk Group pulled about 30% of the vessels it used to run between Asia and the West Coast, most of which had been routed through Los Angeles, and there may be more reductions coming from other ocean shippers, the Times said.
Imports are down and experts expect this year to show little or no cargo growth, the paper reported.
In addition, billions of dollars are being spent to transform the Panama Canal so that it can handle the largest ocean-going vessels, and Canada is also boosting its port capacity, the Times said.
The Panama Canal project alone is expected to increase cargo traffic there by as much as 73% over the record 4 million containers handled last year, the paper said, citing analysts.
