The transformation of container shipping along the east coast of North America is underway. The arrival of ultra-large container vessels with capacity of more than 10,000-TEU along east coast trade routes in 2017 can be viewed as the first page in the next chapter of global shipping, but there is much left to be written.
The ocean carriers have made significant investment in larger vessels of more than 16,000 TEU for deployment along high-volume trade routes between Asia and Europe; what we will see this year is the redeployment of the 10,000-TEU to 14,000-TEU vessels they are replacing. With the additional lane of the Suez Canal added in 2015, the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2016, and the raising of the Bayonne Bridge in New York in 2017, we are already starting to see vessels of this size enter into service along the east coast, and we can expect this trend to continue this year and beyond.
The next 12 months will see significant planning and infrastructure investment from terminal operator and port authorities. Those that have the necessary harbor depth to berth and service ultra-large vessels will focus on building terminal capacity and increasing supply chain fluidity, either through bricks-and-mortar infrastructure, increased digital data tracking and sharing, blockchain technology, or most likely, a combination of all three. Those that cannot accommodate the larger vessels now in deployment will focus on feeder service capabilities, increased intermodal connectivity and fluidity, improvements to data collection/utilization, and the sharing of this information.