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The positive development of the US economy starting in 2014 had an impact on the country›s ports. Cargo handling increased both at the east and the west coast – despite some problems. With regard to economic forecasts and the forthcoming opening of the expanded Panama Canal, some experts expect further increases in transport.
The east coast is profiting obviously from problems in ports on the Pacific. The port alliance of New York and[ds_preview] New Jersey is back on track. The group is the second largest site of the United States after Los Angeles / Long Beach, and with a market share of 30% it is the most important on the east coast. After a slight decrease in 2013 the group recorded an increase of 5.6% to 5.77mill. TEU last year. For the future, the management of NY/NJ expects even further growth. With a 1.6 bill. $ bridge project and dredging measures such as the Bayonne Bridge to be completed in 2016, the alliance prepares for the handling of post-Panamax freighters.

Georgia Ports Authority presented a positive result for the Port Savannah also. There a double-digit growth occured. A total of 3,34Mio. TEU were handled on the quays for the whole year – an increase of about 10.2%. The growing population as well as good developments in the retail economy and in the manufacturing sector (manufacturers´ orders of raw goods) were presented as trends behind this growth. The problems in West Coast ports are recognized as a cause of the outcome, too. An expansion program was passed after long preparations in fall to give Savannah further dynamic impulses.

The overall project including environmental mitigation costs has a volume of 706mill. $. The state expects an annual net value added of 174mill. $ by dredging at the Savannah River. The plan encompasses dredging on the intra-channel to 14,3m and to 14,9m at the outer channel. After that ships with additional 3.500TEU should be enabled to call port.

The Port of Virginia is among the winners of the trend as well. This port experienced a record year. While growth in 2013 was 5.5%, it climbed to almost 8% in 2014 or 2,3mill. TEU.

A little further south the Port of Charleston even presented an increase by 12%. Again, the management in charge refers to the economic situation and the congestion on the West Coast. From January to December 1,8mill. TEU were handled. To be prepared for the challenges of the future – keyword Panama – deepening of the port is planned in South Carolina also.

A rather mixed picture may be observed for the west coast of the United States. Here, large cargo vessels pose problems, as some ports and hinterland transport are obviously not being sufficiently ready for handling.

Los Angeles and Long Beach – both important sites for transport at high turnover routes to and from Asia caused some sensation recently. Although the container volume increased: by 6% to 8,3mill.TEU in Los Angeles and by 1.3% to 6,8mill.TEU in Long Beach, however, serious delays in the second half of the year caused some problems. The delays led to partial shifts of transport volume to other ports. In addition, lengthy negotiations with unions for port workers coincided. Long Beach had similar difficulties. Different factors are considered accountable for the delays beyond these negotiations. These factors include the use of larger ships which need to be handled, a lack of adequate handling equipment as well as restructuring in line services, which led to cargo vessels being forced to call multiple terminals.

In the meantime, more than 20 container ships were anchoring outside the ports, as the moorings were crowded. Extra space even had to be created for this purpose.

Oakland is among the beneficiaries of the situation. Located north of Los Angeles this Californian port reports the record of 2,40mill. TEU for 2014, representing an increase of 2%. In December alone, there was an increase by 20%. The difficulties in Southern California are considered to be one of the main reasons for this.

In the far north-west of the United States, however, there are red numbers in the balance sheet. Seattle and Tacoma obviously could not participate in the overall economic development. Together these ports accounted for about 3,4mill. TEU. Thus compared to 2013´s figures a small drop of about 1% remains. Those responsible attribute this to the strong competition on the West Coast of the country and the use of larger ships which call less ports.

In recent years the area has lost market shares to competing ports, which is also reflected in the 2014 balance sheet. In order to improve the cost efficiency and thus increase the attraction of Seattle and Tacoma both announced in fall, to found the »Seaport Alliance«.

Even the volumes in the port of Vancouver in Canada were boosted by the congestion on the US west coast. According to the officials, container growth remained steady overall at 3.1%, with a record total of 2.9mill. TEU. The record was reached despite a significant decline in March due to a trucking disruption. »Container lines chose to ship more empty containers to Asia to meet higher demand for inbound cargo and facilitate quicker turn-around of ships recovering from scheduling delays as a result of U.S. west coast port congestion«, the port stated.

Hope for continuation of trend

For the coming year, the ports in the United States hope for a continuation of the overall positive economic trends. The occasion to turn this into reality is possibly there.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has most recently lowered its forecast for the world economy by 0.3 percentage points to 3.5% in 2015 and 3.7% in 2016 and said this was due to weaker prospects in China, Russia, Japan and the Euro countries. The experts of the IMF believe that among the major economies, the outlook for the US economy has improved. They raised their forecasts for this year from 3.1% to 3.6% and for next year from 3.0% to 3.3%. It remains to be seen how this is reflected in the turnover figures

in the ports of the country – also with regard to the development of ship sizes and handling.

Michael Meyer