Every major container seaport in North America handled more cargo in 2005 than ever before as trade with Asia continued to swell and importers looked for alternatives to Southern California's crowded docks.
The growth was so brisk and spread so uniformly along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts that some observers are worried other regions will see the kind of congestion that brought the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach near a standstill in 2004.
In 2005, Los Angeles and Long Beach, by far the nation's busiest harbor complex, handled 14.2 million containers, an increase of 8% from 2004, without that year's cargo tie-ups. But business in other places grew even faster last year as retailers diversified their ports of entry, in part to avoid the possibility of another floating traffic jam in Southern California.
Despite the rapid expansion of recent years in international trade, particularly with China and India, few expected the increases they saw in 2005.
"These cargo volumes are just beyond belief," said Aaron Ellis, spokesman for the American Assn. of Port Authorities. "Our ports need to marshal as much of their resources as possible to handle the surges in cargo volume we've been seeing."
Importer Wen Chang found that out last year when he toyed with the idea of using Portland, Ore., or the San Francisco Bay Area instead of Long Beach to bring in the custom wheels, auto and truck accessories and other products that his company, Trade Union International, manufactures in China.
Those ports were becoming nearly as busy as Southern California's, Chang discovered, plus he would need to foot the additional cost of trucking his products to Montclair, where the company is based.
"That's not a solution," said Chang, whose 85-employee company has $45 million to $55 million in annual sales. "We really need to have our state and federal government face this and help find a solution."
Otherwise the flow of goods will be so backed up and inefficient that "everyone will become the victim," he said.
For more than 20 years, only three North American ports -- Los Angeles, Long Beach and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- handled 2 million or more cargo containers annually, as measured in 20-foot equivalents, the maritime industry standard for counting cargo boxes that vary in size. The Port of Oakland joined them in 2004, and last year three more ports breached the mark or came within two ships' cargos of it: Tacoma, Wash. (2.1 million), the Virginia Port Authority (1.98 million) and Charleston, S.C. (1.98 million).
