The Port Community
All-water ports are “all in”:
An update on some of the contenders for the post-Panamax boom

By Bill Armbruster

Ports that have no all-water services now could become contenders for them in a few years.

Baltimore, for example, already has a 50-foot channel and will have a 50-foot berth by 2014 thanks to a landmark deal reached last fall with Ports America, which will operate the Seagirt Marine Terminal under a 50-year lease agreement. The deeper berth will enable Baltimore it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels.

While it takes vessels eight hours to steam up Chesapeake Bay to reach Baltimore, it has the advantage of being the closest East Coast port to the interior, noted John Martin, a maritime consultant. It also has the advantage of being just a four-hour truck drive to New York and its huge market.

Martin also pointed out that the Port of Miami is dredging its channel from 42 to 50 feet to accommodate larger ships. In addition, a port tunnel is designed to ease congestion and provide more expedited delivery of goods to distribution centers in the area. Both projects are expected to finish by expansion’s anticipated completion date of 2014.

Terminals operated by the Port of Houston Authority garnered 14 percent of their container traffic from Asian carriers last year, but that figure is expected to reach 18 percent by 2014, said Ricky Kunz, the authority’s vice president of origination.

“We’re already seeing cargo being diverted from other ports to Houston,” he said.

Kunz said he expects the biggest post-Panamax vessels calling at Houston will probably be in the 6,000 to 7,000-TEU range. The port has a 45-foot channel and there are no plans at present to deepen it to 50 feet.

The Houston authority considers its hinterland to include almost one third of the nation’s population, ranging from the Mississippi River in the east to an imaginary line from El Paso on north through Denver.

There has been some discussion that Norfolk could be a transshipment center, but that doesn’t seem likely considering the costs of unloading containers and transferring them to smaller ships that would call at other ports.

Another possibility is that carriers could use Freeport in the Bahamas or Kingston, Jamaica, as transshipment hubs. After discharging cargo for South American ports, the mega-vessels could then sail up to Norfolk or Baltimore, and then stop at Savannah or Charleston, which could accommodate them if the vessels are not fully laden. Savannah is dredging its channel to 48 feet, compared with 42 now, while Charleston can already handle ships drawing 48 feet of water, depending on the tides.

As for the industrial real estate market, the primary impact will be the long-term balancing of import distribution centers on both East and West Coasts, said Blaine Kelley, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis for global industrial services.  “We don’t anticipate any radical shifts in the next three to five years, but rather a slow transition by shippers and importers to level out their modes and lanes,” Kelley said.

In This Issue

Up Front

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

Trade Tools: How Uncle Sam helps exporters

Capital Watch: Larger issues loom behind federal transport agendas

Supply Chain
Chris Steele: Development opportunities north and south of the border

Compliance Corner: Denied Party Screening Make sure you comply...
comprehensively and timely

Tech Trends

Product Review: Invoicing and Auditing solutions

Commentary
David Bennett: Early signs of trouble

Gateway Glance
Panama

China

The Port Community
Game Changer: Expansion of the Panama Canal will reshape global trade patterns

All-weather ports are “all-in”

Breakbulk Quarterly: East Coast - Thinking outside the box

Breakbulk Quarterly: Brighter outlook for West Coast breakbulk in 2010

The Shipping Environment

Casualties
Navy tanker breaks loose, container crane topples,
longshoreman dies at Virginia port ... and much more

Final Say
Getting TIGER by the tail