North America’s East Coast Gears up for Post-Panamax and Super Post-Panamax Vessels
West coast congestion and rail lines at capacity combined with a lucrative, densely populated Northeastern market has seen the focus of intercontinental shipping moving from the West Coast of North America to the East Coast and the Atlantic Seaboard.
This shift has seen capital expenditure in all major ports along the East Coast and major investments by heavyweights like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target. The Port of Halifax has recently announced that a group of major Canadian retailers has selected the Port of Halifax to route growing volumes of import products from Southeast Asia and the Indian Sub-continent. Halifax will be the east coast hub for sorting and distribution activities of retail giants such as Sears Canada Inc., Sony of Canada Ltd., Reitmans (Canada) Limited and other member companies of the Canadian Retail Shippers’ Association (CRSA). (To read the announcement click here .) New capacity for accommodating these vessels and the ability to move the goods once they arrive is the focus of local port authorities along the coast.
Shashi Kumar Rao, associate dean at Maine Maritime University sees a major role for smaller ports along the seaboard to service and complement the larger ports like New York/New Jersey, Virginia and Charleston. This opens the door for ports like Halifax to capitalize on emerging opportunities.
Read East Coast’s Mega Expansion, by Chhadi Dublish, click here.