Sep 04 2017
Canal or coasts – all are on course
If we look at the coasts of the USA in terms of their shipping activities, then the passage through the Panama Canal forms a perfect triangle with the country’s east and west coasts. Container throughput reached record levels in many US ports in July, just before the start of the peak season. A good year can therefore be expected on both coasts. The Panama Canal has set new markers too.
Everything depends on the canal, and everyone is crowding in over there. A good year after the opening of the expanded Panama Canal, the waterway’s authority is satisfied with the significant growth figures it has been experiencing. Transported tonnage has risen by 22.2%, and more than 1,500 neo-panamax ships have passed through the locks.
In financial 2016 (October to September), the statistics show 330.7 million t and 13,114 ship passages – and this is only the beginning. From October 2017 to September 2018 it is expected that volumes will come to around 429.4 million t transported, on a similar number of ship passages. The envisaged 2,335 neo-panamax ships will be the cause of the higher quantity of goods.
Record results on the US east coast...
Most US ports have recorded significant growth of late – be it down to the impact of the expanded Panama Canal, or rising consumption in the USA. A veritable boom can even be ascertained on the west coast. The port of Long Beach’s 720,312 teu not only represented an increase of 13.1% last month, compared to the previous year, but this also delineated the record high in the 106-year history of the gateway.
The port of Los Angeles copied its neighbouring port. With 796,804 teu handled in July, it also set a new best, which represented growth of 16% over the previous year. The Californian port of Oakland, in turn, completed July’s record-breaking trio, with imports coming to 84,835 teu. This represented growth of approximately 5.4% over the previous year.
There was only one slight flaw – imports may have climbed further in July, by 13% to 417,090 teu in Los Angeles and by 16.3% to 379,000 teu in Long Beach, but exports developed significantly less dynamically – or even slowed. The lack of a paired goods flow in the trade meant many empty containers. Read more
Source: ITJ