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10 AMERICAN SHIPPER: MAY 2012

Ocean carriers only plan on making a few


stops with the latest generation of vessels
that can carry 10,000 to 13,000 standard
shipping units. To maximize revenue and
maintain schedule integrity, behemoth
ships must spend as little time as possible
in port. In the U.S. trade, container lines
are eyeing terminals in the Caribbean, Cen-
tral America and the north coast of South
America as deep-water hubs where they
can offload cargo from Asia transported
via the Panama or Suez canals and serve
U.S. ports with smaller feeder ships.
One of the main attractions of the Ca-
ribbean ports is access to deeper water
because most U.S. East Coast ports lack
T
he expected rise of container terminals in, and
around, the Caribbean associated with the expan-
sion of the Panama Canal and the deployment of
ultra-large vessels could lead to lost business for U.S. ports in
the South Atlantic, but less recognized is the potential threat
to logistics sector jobs from the outsourcing of distribution
operations to the region, according to an industry analyst
and a port director.
U.S. logistics jobs could be outsourced
to Caribbean, Central America
as new shipping patterns evolve.
BY ERIC KULISCH
the necessary infrastructure including
navigable channels dredged to 50 feet or
more able to receive giant container
ships and efficiently handle higher cargo
volumes.
New transshipment activity could change
shipping patterns from the United States to
the Caribbean, with negative consequences
for ports in Florida, and create incentives
for importers to resort to packaging goods
offshore for store delivery instead of at U.S.-
based distribution centers, John Martin, a
well-known port economist and the head of
Martin Associates, recently told a gathering
of maritime industry stakeholders.
Terminal operators and governments,
some with Chinese donations, are investing
heavily to turn wharfs into major trans-
shipment centers in Kingston, Jamaica;
Freeport, Bahamas; Caucedo, Dominican
Republic; Costa Rica and Panama. Specu-
lation has also centered on Havana, Cuba,
as an ideal location for relaying cargo. The
development is a reaction to the widening
of the Panama Canal for ships with 2.5
times more container capacity, but also to
the growing desire of manufacturers and
retailers to produce more goods in Latin
America and shorten the distance to market.
Many global manufacturers, especially
apparel companies, are setting up produc-
tion facilities in Honduras, Guatemala and
other parts of Central America.
Transshipment centers are also mag-
nets for distribution and logistics activity,
which could migrate offshore without deep
harbors on the East Coast. They would
not be suitable for time-sensitive cargo,
which would move by alternative means,
experts say.
Within the past 18 months, Chinese and
other investors have also poured money
into distribution centers in several of those
locations, Martin said, without disclosing
specifics because of confidentiality agree-
ments. The business model involves trans-
ferring a box from the ship to a warehouse
for added-value processing and storage
Transshipment DCs
12 AMERICAN SHIPPER: MAY 2012
LOGISTICS
of the goods, as is done at a U.S. import
distribution center, pre-racking 40-foot
international containers and even 53-foot
domestic U.S. containers, taking them off
the vessel at the U.S. destination port and
directly transporting them to retail stores.
Transshipment typically is defined as
a handoff of containers between vessels
on head-haul routes and feeder vessels
serving smaller ports in a region. Opening
shipping boxes, sorting the contents into
different containers for final delivery and
manipulating the goods is an intermediate
level of processing beyond transportation.
Martin said the lack of adequate infra-
structure at most U.S. ports on the Atlantic
or Gulf coasts will result in the export of
logistics jobs, which most assumed were
safe from outsourcing trends associated
with manufacturing because they were in
the service sector and involved domestic
delivery of goods.
About 30,000 jobs are tied to each an-
nual inbound, first port-of-call service at
a U.S. port, the economic consultant said
March 20 at the American Association
of Port Authorities spring conference in
Washington.
Locating logistics facilities over the
horizon makes sense, Sean Strawbridge,
managing director for trade relations and
operations at the Port of Long Beach, said
in an interview.
For all the reasons that manufacturing
was offshored, why wouldnt that same
model apply to logistics and distribution? If
youre labor costs are significantly reduced
and you can achieve the same or better
degree of efficiency, why not? he said.
The shifting dynamics of world trade will
put pressure on U.S. logistics companies
to take costs out of their business through
technology and other means, he added.
Caribbean officials view logistics parks
as catalysts for economic development and
are receiving substantial support from
China and the Inter-American Develop-
ment Bank (IDB), which is conducting a
feasibility study on how to improve mari-
time transportation and logistics systems
throughout Central and South America.
In Jamaica, a joint venture between Is-
raeli container line Zim Integrated Shipping
Services and Jamaica Fruit and Shipping
Co. in 2006 formed the Kingston Logistics
Center Ltd. adjacent to the port, which has
free trade zone status giving transshipment
cargo exemption from taxes and customs
duties. The company can consolidate,
deconsolidate, label, pack, palletize and
shrink-wrap cargo and deliver it to shipping
lines, as well as manage Jamaican imports
and exports, according to its Website.
A manager reached by phone said the
island-hopping service, saving shippers on
U.S. import charges, extra transportation
and other costs.
The Port of Norfolk is the only port
currently on the East and Gulf coasts
with unrestricted access to 50-foot water.
Baltimore is scheduled this year to open
a 50-foot berth to go along with its deep
channel. The Port of New York and New
Jersey expects the Army Corps of Engineers
to complete harbor deepening by 2014,
but will still have the challenge of raising
the Bayonne Bridge roadbed to increase
the clearance for megaships. The Port of
Miami is authorized and funded to dredge
to 50-feet, but the projects start has been
held up by a lawsuit from local residents
and environmentalists.
Paul Anderson, chief executive officer of
the Jacksonville Port Authority, rose from
the audience to complain that the United
States is the largest contributor to the IDB
and is indirectly subsidizing the transfer
of jobs to Caribbean nations. He also said
the inability of Congress to advance a
comprehensive surface transportation bill
and the federal government to address
infrastructure needs writ large is enabling
other countries to beat the United States to
economic opportunities.
It can take up to 15 years to get federal
approval for deepening projects and com-
plete them, with the cost shared by the
federal government and the state. The U.S.
government also lacks a national port strat-
egy and provides a token amount of money
for port-related projects, although funding
for some highway and rail upgrades helps
ports getting cargo on and off the docks.
The ultimate irony to me would be if
were contributing to development proj-
ects that will directly enable Caribbean
countries to transship to the United States,
therefore taking jobs that we should be
creating in the United States, he said in a
colloquy with Martin after the presentation.
The United States is the IDBs largest
shareholder. The bank is self-financed
through bonds and doesnt receive direct
contributions from member countries, al-
though it periodically replenishes its capital.
The bank borrows against its capital to
fund projects. It offers loans, makes equity
investments, and provides guarantees, grant
funding and technical assistance.
The IDB is able to provide long-term
loans in underserved sectors where local
banks are unwilling or unable to because
its goals extend beyond financial perfor-
mance to include social, economic and
environmental benefits.
The multilateral agency has not directly
funded any logistics parks in the Caribbean
to date, but governments that receive loans
facility is relocating its warehouse to a
larger site on the property, increasing stor-
age capacity to almost 35,000 square feet
from 14,000 square feet.
Panama has been developing logistics
facilities for several years, including the
fledgling Panama Pacifico park at the
former Howard Air Force Base, to lever-
age ocean and air traffic moving through
the country and its central location, and
become a regional trade and logistics
hub. The Colon Free Trade Zone offers
an array of logistics services and light
manufacturing. The logistics facilities are
increasingly being sought by international
companies such as Caterpillar as platforms
for prepping and delivering products to
the growing customer base in Central and
South America, but also provide a natural
relay station for goods bound for the U.S.
market, experts say.
China has invested heavily the past
decade around the world to gain access
to raw materials and in infrastructure
highways, railroads, and ports to
vertically control its supply sources and
get commodities to the homeland. Now it
is investing in logistics infrastructure to
support its export economy.
A portion of trade processed by Florida
ports involves imports to the United States
that are consolidated by buyers and shipped
out to the Caribbean by regional carriers
to serve cruise ships, tourists and local
residents. The shift of direct Asian and
European services to the Caribbean hubs
could reduce the need for cargo to be routed
through Florida, potentially jeopardiz-
ing business for freight forwarders and
regional carriers that have capitalized on
the consolidation trade, and fees for ports,
Martin said.
Instead, cargo could be consolidated out
of the Caribbean ports and delivered on an
For all the reasons
that manufacturing was
offshored, why wouldnt
that same model apply
to logistics and
distribution?
Sean Strawbridge
managing director
for trade relations
and operations,
Port of Long Beach
AMERICAN SHIPPER: MAY 2012 13
for economic development may channel
secondary loans to private banks that could
lend money for logistics projects, accord-
ing to Pedro Guerrero, an IDB transport
specialist.
Edson Mori, a senior investment officer,
said the IDB hopes to get involved with
development of inland ports intermodal
logistics hubs being planned in Latin
America.
Martin said the IDB is only providing
seed money to help developing nations and
the United States could have forestalled
some of the maritime competition if it
invested to make its ports more attractive
to carriers.
We have failed to understand that we
operate in a global economy and that we
need to have investments in port infrastruc-
ture, he said.
Anderson expressed frustration that the
U.S. government spent $870 billion on a
stimulus package in 2009 and has noth-
ing to show for it in terms of gateway
infrastructure, including highway and
intermodal connections.
He suggested that the government could
alleviate the infrastructure crunch by pick-
ing 10 major ports and providing each of
them $400 million, not counting matching
contributions by states and cities.
For $4 billion wed be set for generations
to be competitive with our ports, he said,
noting that tiny Panama had the political
will to pass a referendum allowing the
government to borrow money for the $5
billion canal expansion.
Were spending $1.2 trillion in debt and
we cant find $4 billion? he exclaimed.
In an interview on the event floor, An-
derson said governors, mayors and some
members of Congress are beginning to
understand the importance of investing in
port infrastructure, including maintenance
dredging of existing waterways to keep
them at their authorized depths.
Were falling so far behind. We cant
wait another five to 10 years for our coun-
try to realize that the rest of the world is
leaving us in its wake, he said. We dont
want to be the recipient of transshipment
cargo because we failed to invest a few
billion dollars.
The Jacksonville port director said he is
considering notifying the Florida congres-
sional delegation about U.S. funding for the
IDB being used for facilities to compete
against jobs at home, adding it could be
a potential lightning rod in the current
economic environment with 8.2 percent
unemployment and a huge federal debt.
I might let them know that we have
concerns and that it might mean jobs to our
state, our region and our nation, he said.
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