As it was for the Panama Canal, January 2017 was also a record month for many U.S. East Coast ports. The Panama Canal Authority ACP attributes this directly to the waterway‘s increased capacity.
As the newly operational Expanded lane helps the Canal set monthly tonnage records, t[ds_preview]he Canal Authority can see the impact of the nine year expansion project beginning to be felt. According to the ACP, the expansion’s effects are reverberating beyond Panama’s shores as ports around the world are in varying stages of work to deepen and widen their channels to accommodate the growing number of Neopanamax vessels that can now transit the Canal. As the Expansion nears its first full year of operation, we’d like to take a closer look at how some ports are benefitting as a result – particularly those along the U.S. East Coast.
U.S. East Coast ports, including Charleston, Philadelphia, and Savannah, which recorded 28 %, 34 % and 16 % container volume growths, respectively. For the Port of Charleston, its monthly cargo record follows an annual cargo record set in 2016, after handling 2 million TEUs. Ports in Virginia and Baltimore also saw record-breaking volumes in 2016. The Port of Virginia handled more than 2.65 million TEUs, a 4.2 percent increase compared to the year prior, while the Port of Baltimore handled more than 10 million tons of general cargo and a record number of containers. This growth can be attributed in part to the Canal, which has and will continue to draw additional cargo volumes to the region, as ports continue to expand.
US ports make investments for larger vessels
In Florida, Port Miami is »Big Ship Ready«, having completed more than $ 1 billion in infrastructure improvements, including its Deep Dredge Project. The project was responsible for increasing Miami’s channel depth up to 52 feet, and allowing the port to welcome its first Neopanamax vessel on July 9, 2016. Other ports, such as the Ports of Virginia and Charleston, have plans to invest millions of dollars for dredging projects, infrastructure improvements and other work to enhance their logistics capabilities. The Port of New York and New Jersey recently announced plans to increase investments to $ 200 million at the Port Elizabeth facility.
U.S. East Coast Ports will not be the only ones to benefit from the Expansion, ACP says. So far, the Panama Canal has welcomed eleven new services through the waterway as global shipping lines are redrawn to take advantage of the economies of scale the Canal provides. The ACP anticipates that as this number continues to grow, so too will the expansion’s impact across the world.
