当前位置：新闻动态
Labour deal leads to USWC ports gaining market share in August - report
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/09/14 17:00:07
US West Coast ports, which reached a labour deal with their workers this summer, gained market share in August from the previous month, while their main rivals on the East Coast lost ground, Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) said.
For more than a year, as worker labour talks dragged on, West Coast ports lost market share. Worried shippers diverted containers filled with everything from furniture to food to ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, reports Reuters.
Some shippers said they started sending cargo back to West Coast ports before employers and the longshore union reached a tentative contract agreement covering 22,000 dockworkers on June 15 and employees ratified the deal on August 31.
August market share for the biggest West Coast ports rose 3.6 per cent from July to 41.9 per cent, while the top ports on the East and Gulf Coasts fell 3.3 per cent to 43.1 per cent.
While it is too early to tell if the West Coast labour deal swayed the August results, "we can expect some of the 1 million TEU that left to come back now that the uncertainty is gone," Chris Jones, an executive vice president at Descartes, said.
The Port of Los Angeles, historically the nation's busiest, handled 47,095 more TEU in August than July, an increase of 12.9 per cent. The adjacent Port of Long Beach gained 12.1 per cent, after adding 35,996 TEU.
Across the country, the busiest East Coast port at New York/New Jersey processed 24,089 fewer TEU versus July, a 6.3 per cent decline. Savannah, Georgia's port had the biggest drop at 11.4 per cent, or 26,020 fewer TEU.
"The continuing drought situation in Panama may hasten that return" of cargo to the West Coast, Descartes said in its report. Low water levels in the Panama Canal have slowed ship passages, which could prompt some companies to reroute cargo destined for the East Coast and Gulf Coast to the West Coast.
For more than a year, as worker labour talks dragged on, West Coast ports lost market share. Worried shippers diverted containers filled with everything from furniture to food to ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, reports Reuters.
Some shippers said they started sending cargo back to West Coast ports before employers and the longshore union reached a tentative contract agreement covering 22,000 dockworkers on June 15 and employees ratified the deal on August 31.
August market share for the biggest West Coast ports rose 3.6 per cent from July to 41.9 per cent, while the top ports on the East and Gulf Coasts fell 3.3 per cent to 43.1 per cent.
While it is too early to tell if the West Coast labour deal swayed the August results, "we can expect some of the 1 million TEU that left to come back now that the uncertainty is gone," Chris Jones, an executive vice president at Descartes, said.
The Port of Los Angeles, historically the nation's busiest, handled 47,095 more TEU in August than July, an increase of 12.9 per cent. The adjacent Port of Long Beach gained 12.1 per cent, after adding 35,996 TEU.
Across the country, the busiest East Coast port at New York/New Jersey processed 24,089 fewer TEU versus July, a 6.3 per cent decline. Savannah, Georgia's port had the biggest drop at 11.4 per cent, or 26,020 fewer TEU.
"The continuing drought situation in Panama may hasten that return" of cargo to the West Coast, Descartes said in its report. Low water levels in the Panama Canal have slowed ship passages, which could prompt some companies to reroute cargo destined for the East Coast and Gulf Coast to the West Coast.