Features

Autos Ahoy

By Richard Knee

The East

Höegh Autoliners’ ships call regularly at four ports, and the carrier is looking to add to the list, says James Perduto, vice president of marketing at the company’s U.S. headquarters: “Jacksonville, Wilmington, Baltimore, and New York are our main ports, and we’re looking to expand into New England. We export out of Savannah and Galveston.”

Officials at Baltimore tout that port’s “inland” location as a transit time saver and fuel saver. “We have the geographic advantage of being 180 miles closer to the Midwest. Since we are closer inland, that means that the cost of transportation fuel is less for the customer, and it means we can get the cargo in a timely manner,” Maryland Port Authority spokesman, B. J. Hanson says.

“For instance,” Hanson says, “someone transporting cargo by truck from here can reach Buffalo, N.Y., sooner than if coming from New York/New Jersey; of course that’s with normal driving and no problems on the road. Factor in that when ships come in, they come in with more than one piece of cargo. If you take the amount of cargo en masse — not a singular piece — and consider the mileage versus one truck or railroad flatbed on the road with one or just a few pieces of cargo, then sailing up the (Chesapeake) Bay is economically viable.”

For New York/New Jersey, the obvious appeal is that it’s right in the Big Apple. U.S. Census Bureau figures provided by their port authority show that the port handled 58.7 percent of the U.S. North Atlantic’s vehicle-shipments traffic the first eight months of this year, versus 25 percent for Baltimore.

“The advantages of NY/NJ are many. The main one is, however, its huge market,” says Pete Zantal, general manager of analysis and industry relations for the NY/NJ port authority. “We have the densest and largest concentration of buyers here in the metro area, so it makes sense to bring the vehicles here on the import side. On the export side, the vessels are coming here for imports. In addition, because we have such a large market, it is a great source of used vehicles. On both the import and export side, we have an excellent roadway and intermodal rail system to carry the vehicles in and out of the port.”

The West

Out west, the auto-handling kingpins are Portland, Ore., Vancouver, Wash., and Port Hueneme, Calif.

Port Hueneme handles imports of Volvo, BMW, Saab, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Mini, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Hyundai, and Kia vehicles, as well as exports of Acuras out of Lafayette, Ind.

Portland is the top-volume auto port on the West Coast and handles only import vehicles, says port authority spokesman Josh Thomas.

But Portland, according to Thomas, offers “the shortest direct route from Asia, … ample space to accommodate high volumes, great facilities, a highly efficient labor force with a low incidence of damage, an effective intermodal system, and river grade road and rail connections to inland destinations. Delivery by truck can be accomplished to most regional destinations within one business day.”

Vancouver, across the Columbia River, handles Subarus under a joint marketing agreement between the two ports, while Portland itself is a gateway for Hyundai, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Lexus, Scion, Nissan, and Infiniti autos, says Thomas. “Portland started this year as the port of entry for the new Hyundai Genesis and is being considered as a possible test market for new electrics from BYD Auto.”

He adds that up to 80 percent of the vehicles discharged at Portland move by rail to interior points and the East Coast.

As the Wind Blows

The three western ports are also among a handful of ports active in the growing market for imported wind-power systems and components. Officials at Port Hueneme could not be reached for comment, but as Cargo Business News reported previously, executive director Anthony Taormina believes the port might be able to add project cargoes, especially windmills, to its portfolio.

Officials at Vancouver, Everett, Longview, and San Diego are also looking to take advantage of the growing market for wind power.

Late last year, Port of San Diego spokesman John Gilmore, told Cargo Business News that the port was experiencing a “dramatic increase in project cargo volumes, particularly in the wind-energy sector. We continue to believe that project cargoes will grow in coming years, particularly as demand for renewable energy increases.
Vancouver port spokesman Nelson Holmberg, painted a similar picture: “As a North American port of entry for imported wind energy components, Vancouver has grown dramatically in terms of its role bringing wind energy components into the Northwest.”