economy in a slump and terminal-develop-ment costs rising, that option isn’t so attractive. Instead, Tacoma and other ports are
seeking to make better use of their existing
terminal acreage. The focus, says Mannelly,
is “on assets that are already in the ground.”
Shifting patterns of trade are yet another
factor that is forcing ports and shippers alike
to reevaluate their operations. The severe
congestion that plagued the ports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach just a few years
ago caused many trans-Pacific shipping
lines to seek other ways of getting import
containers into the U.S. Seattle and Tacoma
in the Pacific Northwest, as well as Vancouver, B.C., to their immediate north, benefited to some extent from the change. But
an even greater surge of new business was
witnessed by facilities on the East and Gulf
Coasts, when carriers upped their reliance
on the Panama Canal and bypassed the
West Coast altogether.
Houston Gains Business
The Port of Houston was among the biggest
winners in the realignment. Wal-Mart Stores
shifted a large portion of its containers from
Asia into the Gulf. The move helped to spur
development of Houston’s new Bayport
container terminal. Planning of that facility
dates back to 1997; construction of the first
phase began in 2004 and the gates opened
in 2007, according to Roger Guenther, gen-
eral manager of container terminals at the
port. While he doesn’t credit Wal-Mart
specifically for Houston’s recent growth in
container volumes, he acknowledges that
“big-box retailers have been a focal point of
our trade-development division for quite
some time.” The port did garner additional
business from mega-retailers in the form of
containers that used to pass through the
West Coast, he adds.
Guenther believes Houston will attract
even more container traffic with completion
of an expanded Panama Canal in 2014.
(With the addition of a third set of locks, the
maximum size of a containership that can
transit the canal will rise from around 4,800
twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, to
12,600 TEUs.) Bayport already has 110 acres
