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US
east coast ports in recent years are competitively
united seeking drafts of 12 to 15 metres
in expectation of docking postpanamax ships
no larger than 12,000 TEU.
This
obsolete approach is inadequate given that
shipping alliances have since moved on from
their usual limits of 6,500-10,000 TEU into
the 13,000 TEU range, and in a few years
to come, rising to 15,500-TEU ships.
The
US Army Corps of Engineers estimates that
by 2030, 63 per cent of container shipping
will be in the 13,000-TEU class with some
15 to 20 per cent will be in the 8,000 -
10,000 TEU range with many 4,000-10,000
TEUers surviving and thriving.
Given
these circumstances, the interim American
goal of handling mostly 6,500-10,000-TEU
ships may be barely or briefly feasible,
but the real problem is that only few political
decision-makers understand the impending
growth dynamic in shipping, which is set
to make the 15,000 TEUer seem like nothing
when compared with its 18,000-TEU rival.
And that's within one to two years.
The
dilemma for ports is to build beyond the
15,500 to 18,000 TEU range quickly, economically
and smoothly. The inevitable move is to
advance from a 10.6- to 11.8-metre draft
to more than 15 metres.
Given
the states of the east coast, the Suez Canal
in purely economic terms is in the lead
when compared to anything Panama can offer
in the near term and represents a significant
threat to unaware or ill-prepared ports
even with forthcoming opening of the expanded
Panama Canal.
Postpanamax
drafts have not yet fully sunk in - for
many maritime infrastructure planners. Until
they do, and gain traction across the board,
improvements above and beyond the vision
of a decade ago will be few, patchy, and
singular, in the manner of bridge-raisings,
rail tunnel upgrades.
First,
let us look at the US east coast situation.
Savannah and Baltimore have the most modern
terminals there. Subjects of much civic
posturing, they are, nonetheless, small.
Dredging at Savannah took almost a decade
and a quarter billion dollars to build out
to accommodate 6,500-TEUers, yet both are
limited by a 13.7-metre draft.
The
Virginia ports of Hampton Roads, Norfolk-Portsmouth
and Newport News, enjoy a 15.2-metre deep
fairway, thanks to a heavy naval shipbuilding
presence, but even here container terminal
berthing is limited.
The
naval port of Charleston is moving to extend
its container trade by capitalising and
redeveloping an old 75.2-hectare navy logistics
complex recently acquired at little cost.
Miami
is pushing along a US$2 billion container
project focused on 15.2-metre dredging and
eastern South American West Indian and Caribbean
littoral state trade focus.
Superstorm
Sandy dealt the New York-New Jersey ports'
modernisation programme in 2012. Recovery
measures are still underway. Some Port Newark
and Port Elizabeth terminal berths are rated
at 15.2 metres. Berth drafts range from
12.1 to 15.2 metres at Port Newark and from
13.7 to 15.2 metres at Elizabethport's two
terminals.
Port
Jersey, the former Global Marine Terminal
in Greenville, Jersey City on Upper New
York Bay, has one postpanamax berth with
a 13.1-metre draft, and Red Hook's single
container berth, in Brooklyn's Bushwick
district, is rated at a 12.8 metres alongside.
The New York Container Port on Staten Island,
including Howland Hook and its recent expansion
into adjacent Port Ivory, has three container
berths with draft depths of 11.2, 13.1 and
13.7 metres.
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