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West Coast Port Dip May Be Part of Long-Term Shift

Business is down at major West Coast ports, and some analysts suggest the downturn may be permanent.

By John McCloud | Updated on June 12, 2008

LOS ANGELES-Business is down at major West Coast ports, and while the decline in imports resulting from the current US economic situation appears to be the immediate culprit, some analysts suggest the downturn may be permanent, particularly for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

For January to April, imports at the Port of Oakland declined 5.5% compared with the first four months of 2007, while they were down 7.1% at the Port of Los Angeles and 10.5% at the Port of Long Beach. The ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Portland reported similar decreases. Though the recent declines represent a reversal for some ports, for others the reversal began much earlier. Tacoma, for example, saw a 7% decline in cargo volume last year compared to ’06, while volume in Seattle was off 1% from the preceding year. By contrast, most major Gulf Coast and East Coast ports experienced modest growth or stasis in imports for the first third of this year and growth from 4% to 10% last year.

The West Coast declines corresponded to a 3.7% drop in Asia-to-America shipping volumes by member nations of the Far Eastern Freight Conference and a slowed (but not negative) rate of growth at all major Chinese ports except for Hong Kong. AP Moller-Maersk A/S reduced its trans-Pacific capacity by 30% last year, and according to the Copenhagen-based shipping company, while total global container activity grew 10% last year – and trade between Asia and some parts of the world expanded up to 20% – volumes between Asia and the US West Coast were flat.

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