36


Issue 6 2011


///NORTH-EAST USA


Ports and airports property values buck the trend B


usiness at US ports and airports is continuing to grow despite


the recession. Property rents in areas surrounding the nation’s major gateways are outperforming the general US industrial market says Jones Lang LaSalle in a recent report. Vacancy rates at most major seaports have been declining in 2011, and the property market in most major seaports is either bottoming out or is just on the point of rising again. In its Port, Airport and Global


Infrastructure Outlook, published in August, the international property firm said that “even in a global environment increasingly fraught with risk and uncertainty, capital has continued to pour into ports around the world.” However, ports in the US would


have to increasingly embrace new funding methods if they were continue to invest, the report continued. In particular, they would need to consider private- public partnerships (‘3Ps’), drawing in industrial and development firms that have historically limited their focus to areas “outside the gate”. This was true of both seaports and airport cargo facilities, it added. “Specialised funds are now


being created throughout the US and foreign markets dedicated to financing and developing maritime and aviation-related infrastructure,” the report continued. In fact, the event that is doing


most to change the face of the US East Coast ports is unfolding 2,000 miles to the south. Improvements to the Panama Canal that would allow it to take much larger ships from 2014 meant that US East Coast ports would turn to 3Ps in order to allow them to handle larger ships and capitalise on new


opportunities. A new set of locks will allow


fully-laden ships of up to 12,600teu to transit the canal, compared with the current maximum of only 4,400teu. This would allow larger ships to operate from Asia direct to the US East Coast ports via the Canal and will in turn make the East Coast ports more competitive compared with sea and rail landbridge services from the West Coast ports – which are relatively unrestricted in terms of ship size – provided, that is, the East Coast ports can rise to the challenge and create deeper channels and berths and expand container terminals and improve inland transport links. However, at the time of writing only Norfolk has the necessary 50ſt draſt depth necessary to handle the very largest ships although others including New York hope to be ready at about the time the upgraded Panama Canal opens in 2014. The improvements could shiſt


the East Coast ports’ hinterland for which they can out-compete the West Coast ports westwards by a couple of hundred miles or so, taking in, crucially, the city of Chicago. So far, ports have concentrated


on dredging channels to accommodate new generation containerships, but development of dockside and land-side infrastructure would be needed too if ports were to attract major carriers: “The ports that stand to win the vigorous market share battle will be those that take the most holistic approach to moving goods as efficiently as possible,” says the report. Of the North-east coast ports,


Jones Lang LaSalle identified Philadelphia and Wilmington as


“emerging” gateways alongside the established hubs of New York-New Jersey, Baltimore and Norfolk. In New York-New Jersey, Port


Newark should have its harbour deepening project completed on time but it will not be able to improve the low air draſt of the Bayonne bridge in time for the opening of the new Panama Canal locks. However, the port authority has budgeted $1bn for the bridge scheme and a further $25m to expedite the planning and engineering process.


“even in a global


environment increasingly fraught with risk and uncertainty, capital has continued to pour into ports around the world.”


Another major improvements


in progress is the ExpressRail Port Jersey $600 ship-to-rail container terminal, which will more than double the existing annual rail capacity from 400,000 to 1m boxes. The port has also signed a deal


for $500m with shipping line MSC to upgrade the Port Newark container terminal, expected to boost volume from 400,000 to 1.1m containers by 2030. Baltimore’s scheme to expand its


Seagirt Marine terminal with 50ſt of water, extended wharf and four cranes is on course to be delivered in August 2012 and will enhance the port’s attractiveness to the next generation of containerships, says the report. Work is also going on to relocate the Seagirt rail terminal to avoid a tunnel and so allow double- stack container trains. The Port of Philadelphia is continuing its rapid growth,


marking its year of 20%+ growth in the Delaware Stevedores/Hyundai


Beanz meanz Liverpool


T


fourth consecutive teu


throughput in 2010. It also cemented its position as a leading perishables port in the US with the completion if the 667,000sq ſt Philadelphia Regional Produce Market in Spring 2011. The Philadelphia Regional Port


Authority also, in November 2010, signed a concession agreement with


River Merchant


Marine team for the construction of the 120-acre, two-berth Southport by 2020. The Port of Wilmington in North


Carolina (not to be confused with Wilmington, Delaware, another major East Coast port) has a 42ſt deep access channel and is also in a designated Foreign Trade Zone, which offers almost 1m sq ſt of covered storage and over 100 acres of paved open storage, plus container, bulk and break-bulk


terminals. A major


container terminal expansion project is currently under way including four post-Panamax container


cranes. Rail operator


CSX is also developing a National Gateway Project to connect the port to its hinterland and the port authority is also working with the North Carolina Department of Commerce to attract major distribution centres to the port area. Encouraging as these


developments are, ports on both the east and west coasts will need more intermodal facilities if they are to continuing growing, adds the report and there is currently limited capacity in key places such as New York-New Jersey. More investment is also needed away from the port area in tunnels, bridges and highways, it says.


T


he American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) and the


International Trade Administration (ITA) have launched a joint initiative to encourage more US firms to export. It forms part of the National Export Initiative (NEI) announced by President Obama during his State of the Union address in January 2010. The Partnership with America’s


Seaports to Further the National Export Initiative aims to increase the mere 1% of companies that sell overseas. (And, of those that do, 58% export to only one country, typically Mexico or Canada.) Despite the fact that ‘Made-in- the-US’ goods and services have


a certain cachet throughout the world, and 95% of the world’s consumers live outside the US, many firms in the States are inhibited at pursuing opportunities outside their home country. It may be a shortage of finance


with which to expand production but equally they may be worried about getting timely payment from unfamiliar foreign customers or fear the complexity of negotiating foreign customs and regulations. They may also lack the contact they need to meet potential distributors, customers or foreign government decision-makers.


www.export.gov/ports


he Port of Liverpool accounts for 35% of UK to North America


trade and the largest UK port on this trade lane – and one of its biggest customers is Heinz. Some 10,000 containers of beans arrive at Liverpool per annum en route to the company’s processing plant at Wigan. Half of these come from North Dakota and Michigan in the US North East. The raw beans are stored at


Liverpool on a “just in time” basis, and delivered straight to the production line at Wigan. By using the port closest to its plant, Heinz’s costs are reduced as water is cheaper transport than road or rail. Also, by holding stock at the port, the supply chain becomes simpler as it eliminates the need for raw material storage at the production site and removes the cost of on-site shunts. The containers are stored in a


specially designated area within the Royal Seaforth Container


Terminal - a virtual dedicated warehouse. This allows Heinz to select the container required, offering full batch control and to suit the needs of the production site. The containers remain within the boundaries of the container terminal, offering full security and Freeport benefits. Other imports from the US into


Liverpool include diesel engines, large construction machinery and vehicles, foodstuffs, vitamins and minerals, chemicals, animal feed, aerospace parts and agriculture plant & machinery. Two major freight shipping lines


operate regularly between the East Coast of America to Liverpool


-


Atlantic Container Line (ACL) with a weekly ConRo service to Liverpool from New York, Baltimore and Portsmouth (New Hampshire) and Independent Container Line (ICL) with a weekly container service from Chester (Pennsylvania) and Wilmington (Delaware).


New venture aims to get US firms exporting


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