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US east coast ports winning west coast rivals in attracting Asia trade

IN January and February volumes from Asia to the US east coast ports rose by four per cent year on year, to 760,000 TEU, while throughput at Gulf ports soared by 32 per cent to 82,000 TEU in the wake of the opening of the widened Panama Canal, demonstrating the rebound that started in the second half of 2016 is continuing.

The intense battle between US west and east coast ports for Asian imports is being won on the Atlantic seaboard, according to Drewry, reported The Loadstar.

Piers data showed that US west coast ports suffered a nine per cent traffic decline over the first two months of the year to 1.5 million TEU.

Moreover, the accelerated growth on the east coast has supported a widening of the rates gap, with, for example, Drewry's World Container Index (WCI) at the end of March recording a 'premium' of US$1,400 per FEU for Shanghai to New York, compared to the Shanghai to Los Angeles rates.

"It had been expected that the advent of larger ships on the all-water route would reduce the rate differential to make it a more attractive option compared with draying goods overland from the west coast," said Drewry.

It noted, however, that for now carriers are "able to cash in on the route at the same time as making cost savings by introducing larger ships."

However, Drewry anticipates shippers would continue routing time-critical shipments via west coast ports. Yet the London-based analysts said it remained to be seen how much of a rate differential less time-sensitive cargo would be able to absorb before shippers switched back to routing via the west coast.

Drewry calculates that on US west coast routes, the new alliance structures will push up headhaul capacity by four per cent, compared with a year ago.