Ports benefit from canal delays

After weeks of delays due to a construction dispute, the Panama Canal’s $5.2 billion expansion is expected to be operational by January 2016 – six months late. What impact will the canal’s expansion have on break-bulk shippers and will delays strengthen the hand of Gulf Coast ports? In a recent impact report on breakbulk and containerized traffic, researcher Anthony Ross at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, concludes export growth in seven Eastern states (including Georgia and South Carolina). Since that report, Ross has suggested looking westward, along Gulf Coast bulkbreak ports like Houston and Gulfport, Miss., for higher volumes of traffic. The Eastern states assumption advantage “may not be true.” Nevertheless, Ross believes breakbulk volumes along Gulf Coast ports may eventually benefit from a delay in the expansion of the canal, as some Midwest shippers divert traffic from West Coast ports. (Breakbulk magazine 08/15/14)