U.S. West Coast ports continue to dominate

2016 saw U.S. West Coast (USWC) ports increase their collective share of containerized trade through seaports on the U.S. mainland. Outbound or inbound, value or weight, the Pacific ports gained market share last year.

In a monthly newsletter produced by Pacific Maritime Shipping Association (PMSA), West Coast shippers were recently told that “assessing the numbers for December and all of 2016, 'Big Dogs' on the Pacific Rim bit off  a larger piece market share.

Canadian ports were not measured for throughput, however, since they were late in reporting their figures…a situation PMSA president, John McLaurin described as “sad.”

Meanwhile, measured by the declared value of the contents of containerized shipments as reported to the U.S. Government, USWC ports saw their share of containerized imports entering mainland U.S. ports rise from 47.4% in 2015 to 49.2% in 2016.

The USWC share of the declared weight of the contents of containers entering mainland U.S. ports in 2016 also jumped from 39.4 % in 2015 to 40.2% in 2016.

On the export side, the USWC share of the declared value of containerized shipments departing mainland U.S. ports rose from 31.7% in 2015 to 34.5% in 2016. Also increasing was the USWC share of the declared weight of containerized exports from mainland ports, from 35.4% in 2015 to 39.6% in 2016.

December saw no slackening in import container traffic along the U.S. West Coast. To be sure, the number of inbound loaded TEUs at the Port of Long Beach did fall by 8.2% in December from the same month a year earlier, but that was more than balanced by the hefty 22.7% year- over-year increase at the Port of Los Angeles. That left the nation’s largest maritime complex with a combined 7.8% year-over-year gain for the month.

Posting equally if not even more impressive percentage growth was the Port of Oakland with a 6.1% bounce in inbound loaded TEUs in December and the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Seattle and Tacoma with a 13.5% surge.

On the outbound side of the ledger, December saw significant gains in loaded exports at the big California container ports, with the San Pedro Bay Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach combining for an 11.8% increase year-over-year. Oakland topped that with a 13.5% gain in loaded outbound traffic, while the Northwest Seaport Alliance Port saw a more modest 5.8% uptick from December 2015.

Perhaps the biggest bit of news for all of 2016 was that, despite the setback dealt the Port of Long Beach by the Hanjin bankruptcy at the end of August, the San Pedro Bay ports came within a half percentage point of eclipsing their peak year (2006) in terms of total full and empty TEUs handled.

Long Beach may attract even more traffic this year with the advent of the world's newest container line.

According to prelinary reports, Seoul-based SM Shipping will launch its first service string connecting Asia and the U.S. West Coast on April 21, calling Long Beach from Busan. 

 The 2016 total (15,631,954 TEUs) represented a 1.8% increase over 2015. Further up the coast, Oakland had one of its busiest years ever, handling 2,369,641 TEUs.

As LM noted in a recent editorial, that was remarkable in itself since, a year ago, the port’s second-largest terminal operator declared bankruptcy and abruptly ceased operation.

Meanwhile, total TEUs handled at the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma saw a 2.4% increase from 2015.

PMSA says that the high value of the dollar should continue to buoy import volumes through much of 2017. Among other factors, higher interest rates and expected cuts in corporate tax rates should perpetuate the strong dollar, although the actual effect on the tax cuts is unlikely to be felt until 2018. Despite the dollar’s strength, containerized exports have shown no sign of backing off as overseas demand for waste paper and scrap metals has remained unabated, while exports of agricultural products have picked up as well.