From St. John's to Miami: Containerisation at Eastern Seaboard Ports

Abstract

The North American Eastern Seaboard is one of the major container handling regions of the world. However, since 1975 it has declined relative to the world development of containerisation. Whereas in 1975, 20.4% of the world's containers passed through Eastern Seaboard ports, in 1995 the figure was 7.2%. In the period 1975 to 1995, ports in Canada and the Mid Atlantic range have held their own relatively in the proportion of containers handled in the Eastern Seaboard. Ports in the North East, primarily New York, have lost ground; ports in the South have gained. Rank size analysis and the Gini coefficient show a deconcentration of container handling away from New York to middle ranked ports, especially Hampton Roads, Charleston, SC and Montreal. Global factors – universal adoption of containerisation, changing trade routes brought about by post-Panamax ships and intermodality, and cargo sharing among alliances – explain the relative decline of the Eastern Seaboard ports as a group. Individual port development is largely accounted for by how well ports respond to the global factors.