The slump in growth seen at a number of US West Coast ports during the labour-induced period of congestion in early 2015 has trickled over into import results, as East coast ports have now taken over the West Coast for imports, as well as for market share in overall containerised goods, according to the Journal of Commerce.
The US West Coast’s share of imports had fallen to 49.5% in 2015, compared to the 52.4% seen in 2014.
Ports were hit heavily during the period of closure as a result of the labour disputes in early 2015, with volumes dropping significantly along the West Coast.
Technical Paper: How the US West Coast Cleared Congestion
However, despite these findings for imports in 2015, US ports are so far rebounding in 2016.
An infographic previously released by Datamyne and published by PTI showed that, in the January-February 2016 period, imports at the Port of Los Angeles had risen by 36% compared to the same period in 2015.
The Port of Long Beach saw a 30% rise across the same months.
After taking the 18,000 TEU CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin recently, the Port of Long Beach seems to be set to handle higher volumes.
With CMA CGM’s announcement to bring in another six mega-ships from Asia to the West Coast by the end of May, 2016, the other remaining test is for West Coast to accommodate the influx of containers coming in once the Panama Canal Expansion is completed.
The inauguration for the Panama Canal is set to take place on June 26, 2016.
Technical Paper: The Impacts of the Panama Canal Expansion on World Trade
