The expanded Panama Canal is having a powerful impact on vessel size, cargo volumes, and port infrastructure.
Post-Panamax vessels now make up a large and growing percentage of the fleet calling the US East Coast. With these massive vessels, container exchanges are also growing to 5,000 to 6,000 boxes per ship.
Such cargo influxes impact the entire supply chain. In the neo-Panamax era, it is critical for gateway ports to provide sufficient landside infrastructure. Enhanced rail capacity is key not only to handling the container volumes flowing to East Coast hub ports, but to serving expanded geographical markets without congestion.
To handle the cargo, it is critical for East Coast ports to expand capacity through improvements to on-terminal infrastructure and intermodal facilities with an eye toward extending services farther into the hinterlands.
If such port investments are made, the cargo will continue to follow. The opening of new operations by freight forwarders and transload facilities will set the stage for another wave of growth in logistics, construction, manufacturing, and related industries.
While it is important for ports to remain focused on carriers and beneficial cargo owners, it is equally important that we provide for the frontline customer — the trucker. Adding lanes and streamlining processes so that drivers remain assured of efficient turn times is key to maintaining the free flow of cargo.
Ports must also work with their states to ensure cargo fluidity from terminals to the interstate system as demand increases from fast-growing population centers.
Keeping costs in check and terminals congestion free are two of the main drivers that will ensure ports’ success in the coming year.