Posted on March 5, 2025
Sea-Intelligence has assessed the change in container volumes from the US’ East to West coasts in the second half of 2024.
Figure 1 depicts the loaded import ratio between North America’s East and West Coast ports.
Sea-Intelligence noted that a figure greater than one reflects more quantities handled by West Coast ports, whilst a value less than one indicates more volumes handled by East Coast ports.
Up to the end of 2022, the trend was decreasing, with East Coast ports gaining ground. The ratio reached its lowest point of 0.88 in December 2022.
This was followed by a restoration to parity by mid-2023, but the volatility was well within the range recorded during the past decade. In the months that followed, the ratio remained stable at 1.0-1.1 in favour of West Coast ports.
Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, said: “What is different this time, is that after the prolonged level of stability, there has been no further continuation of the downwards trend, and instead, in the second half of 2024, the ratio increased sharply, peaking at 1.22 in October 2024, and staying at 1.20 in both November and December.”
According to the analyst company, the timing of the surge in West Coast port volumes, as well as the de facto ratio of total volumes between the two coasts, suggests that it may be the consequence of peak season cargo being front-loaded to West Coast ports ahead of a US East Coast port strike.
Murphy added: “Under normal circumstances, one would expect front-loading of cargo to US East Coast ports instead. However, with the challenge of an increasingly congested Panama Canal, and the increased transit times for services going via the Cape of Good Hope, it is possible that shippers instead opted to take the much faster Eastbound Asia-US West Coast route, but leaving enough buffer to move the cargo from the West Coast to the East Coast.”
© Sea-intelligence
