West Coast Ports Prepare for the Future
By Michael A. Moore
West Coast US ports from California to Alaska find themselves confronting a perfect storm of challenges coming from different directions – challenges that can become opportunities or disasters, depending on how they are addressed.
The root of many of the challenges for container ports from Seattle to San Diego is the shifting dynamic of the container market and the ships that serve it.
“There is a major paradigm shift going on,” said Mike Moore, vice president, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. “The newer, bigger container ships have gotten a lot cheaper to build. A 19,000 TEU vessel will be launched in May. That is 72 miles of containers – in the mid-90’s 5,200 TEU was considered a mega-ship.
“The cost for size has gotten less, capacity is high and there is not enough cargo,” he said. “The result we are seeing is suppressed rates and mega-alliances. The larger ships combined with the mega-alliances like P3 will impact gateway choices.” … (More)
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