Zim boss sees shift of trade from US west to east coast

Giving the keynote address at the 9th TPM Asia Conference in Shenzhen, Damieli went on to add that he believed the US east coast (USEC) and US Gulf Coast (USGC) gateway ports will see higher growth than the the US west coast (USWC) ports. Already the USEC volumes have increased by about 20% over the past two years, he said.

This shift to USEC has been accelerated by the labour dispute issues at the west coast ports earlier this year. Rafieli noted that USWC ports market share has fallen from 67% in June 2014 to 62% in June this year. Some of the lines that moved more volumes via USEC ports as a solution to the west coast issues have not come back, he said.

Rafieli estimated that up to 10% of Pacific Southwest (PSW) ports cargo amounting to about 15% of US GDP will be in play between the west and east coast by 2020.
The situation will be further complicated by the opening of the expanded Panama Canal, expected by the third quarter of next year, he said. The ability to transit 13,000-teu ships through the locks may mean that inland destinations such as Chicago and Memphis might be better served through the USEC ports instead of the traditional USWC and rail connections, Rafieli ventured.

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