Supply Chain Managers May Be Considering New Seaport Options, Says Report

East Coast ports are growing at a faster rate than their West Coast counterparts, according to the inaugural edition of CBRE Group, Inc.'s “North America Ports Logistics Annual Report.”

But even as the East Coast ports are gaining ground, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach still topped the report's first-ever “Ports and Logistics Index,” thanks to infrastructures that is well-suited to handle the largest cargo container ships, their proximity to Asian export markets, a strong local economy and a deep industrial real estate market.

Disruptions by dockworkers on the U.S. West Coast at the end of last year added to the congestion woes of Los Angeles and Long Beach, thereby raising the profile of competing ocean cargo gateways like Miami and New York/New Jersey. Even the little upstart of New Orleans got into the action. Today, they're all contenders, say industry experts, especially as the Panama Canal expansion finally nears.

According to John Morris, Americas services leader for the industrial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, containerized imports through Los Angeles and Long Beach were down 26 percent in January, but up sharply at Savannah and other East Coast ports.

New York and New Jersey, Seattle/Tacoma Alliance and Oakland round out the top five ports on the Index, which ranks the top 15 North American ports based port infrastructure capabilities and the strength of the local industrial real estate market.

“Although the location needs of supply chain users are somewhat fixed given existing distribution centers and customer locations, these networks are always evolving and adjusting to meet increasingly complex inventory requirements,” said David Egan, head of industrial research in the Americas for CBRE. “As ports across North America continue to address operational efficiencies caused by greater cargo volumes, labor disputes and a shortage of workers, supply chain users are exploring diversification strategies that move some portion of inbound cargo from the congested West Coast ports to East and Gulf Coast ports.”

When it comes to port infrastructure alone—which measured total twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) volume, long-term growth in annual TEU volume and year-over-year growth in TEU volume—Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey and Long Beach took the top spots, with Savannah and Virginia (Norfolk) at #4 and #5, respectively.

With respect to the real estate ranking component—which was weighted less heavily in the overall rankings than port infrastructure—the characteristics measured included a market's total size, availability of existing industrial space, demand activity, historical and forecasted construction rates, rent growth and each market's position in its own cycle.

The markets with healthy amounts of existing and planned space for their size, and which have experienced growth during the current recovery cycle but have not yet reached their peaks, rose to the top of the list. Los Angeles and Long Beach were the top-ranked markets in this component, with Houston, Oakland and Seattle/Tacoma rounding out the top five.

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