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Pacific
Rim Trade Keeps Booming
The
Seattle Times Peter H. Dunphy keeps us well informed about pacific shipping. He
reports that
"The
Ports of Seattle and Tacoma held their own in 2003, both slightly increasing
their market share of cargo moved on the West Coast. Tacoma, however, continues
to be the larger of West Coast cargo now moves through the Ports of Long Beach
and Los Angeles. L.A. is the coast's largest port, with 34.8 percent of all
cargo.
But there is more: "At Long Beach, the number
of loaded inbound containers was up 31 percent compared with last March, while
loaded outbound containers advanced by 14.5 percent. The total
number of containers handled at the port in March was up 25.8 percent to 448,398
TEUs.
At Los Angeles, the number of inbound containers
was up 14 percent, while the loaded outbound-container count advanced by 7.3
percent. The march total for Los Angeles was 611,616 TEUs, an 8.5 percent
increase over last March. The total number of containers moved at the twin ports
in March was 1,060,014. That's a record for the month.
Tacoma handles 9.7 percent of cargo, up from 9.2
percent in 2002. It is a major port for auto and truck imports, with more than
11 percent of the market.
The Port of Portland handled 6.7 percent, down
slightly from 2002. Oakland handled 7.9 percent, up slightly from 2002.
West
Coast ports are big engines of economic growth. Four million jobs depend on the
trade that moves through ports in California, Oregon and Washington, according
to PMA.
Seven percent of gross domestic product and about
$750 billion is tied to the loading and unloading of cargo.
Further indication of growth in shipping:
"China
is by far the largest sea borne trader with the U.S. Last
year, it sent 4 million containers, or TEUs for 20-foot equivalent unit, the
industry standard measure, to the U.S. Another 1.6 million came from Hong Kong.
The second-largest trader in terms of container traffic was Japan, accounting
for only 760,000 TEUs."
In view of the above information about Pacific Rim
trade doubling in a couple of decades.
WHY
WOULD THE PORT OF SEATTLE WANT TO SELL PIER 46 TO DEVELOPERS?
Related to the above is the question of West Coast
port pollution. From PORT NEWS on the internet we find that "The ports of
Los Angeles and Long Beach received poor marks in an environmental report card
grading the 10 busiest ports in the United States.
Long Beach got a C, while Los Angeles got a
C-minus, according to the report by the Los Angeles-based California Coalition
for Clean Air and the Washington, D.C.-based Natural Resources Defense Council,
who conducted a year-long study of environmental programs and community
outreach." The report states an environmental program would require, among
other things, that "ships run on dockside electric power while at berth, to
cut down on diesel emissions." No
report so far on the Port of Seattle.
Also on the "Dockside" report is
announcement that "negotiators for the ILA and waterfront management agreed
... to a six-year master contract, six months before the Sept. expiration of the
current agreement.
The contract, subject to member ratification,
covers union workers
performing container and roll-on, roll-off cargo handling at Atlantic and Gulf
ports. Local agreements covering break bulk cargo and port-specific conditions
will be negotiated separately.. ..
Bowers, ILA President, says he is confident the
master contract will be overwhelmingly approved.
'I think this is one of the finest contracts I've ever seen', he
said."
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