California Shift: Study shows East Coast ports gaining market share

   SeaIntel says an analysis of container traffic at North American seaports between 2006 and 2012 shows the share of the market handled by ports on the East Coast of North America has increased, while the share handled by California ports has dropped.
   The SeaIntel Sunday Spotlight newsletter found 18 out of the 19 largest container ports in Canada and the U.S. (it was not able to get information it needed about Miami) handled 42 million TEU in 2012, an increase of 7 percent since 2006 despite the negative impact the financial crisis. During the same period, the California ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland saw their market share decrease from 46.7 percent to 41 percent, while ports on the East Coast increased their share from 28.2 percent to 33.2 percent.
   SeaIntel said U.S. ports along the Gulf of Mexico kept an almost stable market share during the entire period, while ports in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and Canada experienced an increasing market share from 2007 to 2010, but then the market share decreased, so that it now stands at the same level as it did in 2006.
   SeaIntel said its analysis also showed an increasing share of containers imported through West Coast ports are exported through the East Coast and Gulf ports.
   “The reason for this is most likely that when the container is imported, transit time is of high importance, as the goods imported are needed in the stores and warehouses, and it is expensive to keep a large floating stock,” SeaIntel wrote in the analysis. “When many of the containers then have to be exported, cost is often of a higher concern, as the container is often empty or laden with low-value goods.”
   Alan Murphy, partner and chief operating officer of SeaIntel said, “Our analysis also shows that as more Asia-East Coast services are shifted from the Panama Canal to the Suez, more cargo is imported through the East Coast ports, instead of being railed across the entire continent.
   “With the expansion of the Panama Canal,” he continued, “we expect this development to intensify, as carriers can deploy larger vessels, with lower cost per container, without having a significantly longer transit time, direct to the densely populated urban centers on the East Coast.”