US West Coast ports hope for a cargo bonanza in 2024 – but are they prepared?

The Freight Buyers' Club

In this deep dive into US logistics and international trade, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, host Mike King explores whether 2024 could see a major surge of cargo into US West Coast terminals.

Levi Strauss & Co said earlier this year that it had “already shifted some product to go through the West Coast instead of the East Coast". Clearly it is not alone. The share of US seaborne imports of apparel shipped from Asia to US West Coast ports rose to 59.1% in December 2023, up from 56.7% in December 2022, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows. In the first 25 days of January, the ratio increased to 64.8%, the highest since October 2022.

As this episode explains, a number of factors are pushing cargo westwards, not least the Red Sea crisis and diversions of container ships around the Cape of Good Hope. Low water on the Panama Canal and the threat of dockworker union action at US Gulf and East Coast ports later this year are also considerations for shippers.

How deep and significant this trend is for container shipping and US ports and supply chain stakeholders will become clearer after the latest round of trans-Pacific annual contracts have been signed and sealed. A lot of those conversations will be taking place at Long Beach, California, in the first week of March when the city hosts TPM24.

As this podcast explores, many shippers will not just be looking at the cost/transit equation, they will also be asking whether West Coast terminals are ready to handle a surge in cargo.

Guests:

Noel Hacegaba, Chief Operating Officer, Port of Long Beach

Bjorn Vang Jensen, Executive Director for International Transport, Cummins

Alexander King, Branch Manager for New York and New Jersey, Dimerco Express Group

Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation

Matt Schrap, CEO, Harbor Trucking Association