Canal expansion may spur switch to shipping

[phantom power]

PANAMA CITY — Chinese toys and sneakers headed to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. on the U.S. East Coast may bypass Warren Buffett's $33.8 billion railway as the expansion of the Panama Canal slashes the cost of shipping them by sea.

The deeper, wider canal will allow A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, China Ocean Shipping Group Co. and other lines to ship more cargo directly to New York and Boston instead of unloading it on the West Coast for trains and trucks to finish the journey east. That could save exporters 30 percent, the canal operator said.

The $5.25 billion Panama Canal project, scheduled for completion during its centennial in 2014, may take business from ports including Los Angeles and Seattle, and railroads including Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

It costs as much as $1,000 more per cargo container to use trains than ships, said Lee Sokje, a shipbuilding analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co. in Seoul.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100207/BUSINESS/2070349/Canal+expansion+may+spur+switch+to+shipping

[Merchant Marine]

1. Bleh, losing the trans-shipment cargo will murder the stevedores union.

This'll also allow foreign shippers to avoid having to comply with ports of LA and Long Beach emissions regulations by bypassing them altogether.

[madokie]

2. All I seen when I read this is fewer trucks on our hyways

and for that I say good. I admit I haven't yet given much thought to the implications to all of this though.

[Merchant Marine]

3. Nobody trans-ships on trucks

Any asia-europe cargo moving through the US is going to be rolling on rail, pulled by diesel electric locomotives.

Gallon for ton its not quite as efficient as a ship, but its still a lot better than trucking.

[madokie]

4. Anything is better than trucking in my book

[happyslug]

5. East Coast and New Orleans...

With Containerization starting in the 1960s a new port was built between New Orleans and Barton Rouge called "The Port of South Louisiana". It is now the largest port by volume in the United States. Houston is #2, New York City is #3. The largest exporter is South Louisiana, the largest Importer is Houston Texas (Which along with other Texas ports does a lot of imports of Mexican and Venezuela oil for refining and exports of the refined oil back to those countries). The largest port on the West Coast is Long Beach (#5 total), followed by Los Angles (#14 total), Port of Portland at #26, and Tacoma Washington at #30 total, Port of Richmond California at 33, Port of Seattle #37, Anacortes, Washington at #43, Kalamar Washington at #53, Vancouver Washington at 69, Longview Washington at 79, Port of San Diego at 99 and other even smaller ports. Please note the volume of the west coast comes no where near the volume of the Gulf Coast or even New York City itself.

My point is the good are imported at the various West Coast Ports and then shipped to Louisiana for export. Some are exported via other Gulf Coast ports and east coast ports. Given the price difference shipping to the port of Louisiana and reloading there then shipping the good by rail up to New York City to be refined in New Jersey Refineries, all of this oil imports inflate the numbers of both the Gulf coast ports and New York City imports.

List of US ports:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ports_in_the_United_States



New York City is still the number one port in the US (And Pittsburgh is #3, by tonnage, but its shipping is barge traffic on the rivers NOT imports or exports) but New Orleans is #2 (And does Not Include Barton Rouge which, while up river of New Orleans, is still a port). Mobile Bay is still a huge port as is Houston and Galveston Texas. Each of these ports are viewed as independent of each other and thus while their total tonnage of ALL of the ports from Mobile Bay to Houston may be larger then New York City it is divided between at least six different ports while New York City area only has to worry about the much smaller ports in Northern New Jersey.