OSC: North American port throughput to rise 85% within decade
A report released Monday by Ocean Shipping Consultants said North American container port throughput has doubled in the last decade and could expand by as much as 85 percent more in the next decade.
The report, “Container port markets in the Americas to 2020,” said throughput throughout the hemisphere has expanded 121 percent from 1995 to 2005 and by 47 percent from 2000 to 2005, to 71.2 million TEUs. North American throughput has increased 42 percent from 2000 to 2005, to 46.4 million TEUs, while throughput in the Caribbean Basin/Central America region increased 151 percent over the last decade to 13.5 million TEUs.
“Container port throughput growth on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of South America accelerated to 79 percent over 2000-2005 from 57 percent over 1995-2000, reaching 11.3 million TEUs in 2005,” according to a report summary released by U.K.-based OSC. “The Pacific ports gained share during the 1990s, based on economic success and increasing containerization in Chile. The privatization of container handling in Brazil during the latter 1990s caused a surge in the share of Atlantic ports, which was then sustained by booming Brazilian exports. Their share increased from 61.3 percent in 1998 to 66.1 percent in 2004, before falling back slightly to 65.3 percent in 2005.”
The report also forecasts demand over the next 14 years, with North American port demand (under the most rapid economic growth scenario) forecast to increase by 85 percent to 85.7 million TEUs by 2015, and by a further 31 percent to 112.3 million TEUs from 2015 to 2020. In a scenario with lower GDP growth, OSC is forecasting 71 percent growth to 79.4 million TEUs by 2015, and 25 percent more growth, to 99.4 million TEUs, from 2015 to 2020. Even the lowest projection, accounting for a major shock to the trade environment, still has North American ports handling 89.7 million TEUs by 2020.