THE Port of Long Beach is conducting a European road show to effect damage control with European carriers and show customers how it is working out west coast harbour congestion problems.
East and Gulf coast ports now handle 47.3 per cent of total volumes from Asia to the US compared with 46.1 per cent a year ago. The east coast average for 2013 stood at just 37 per cent.
The delegation includes Long Beach mayor Robert Garcia, harbour commission president Doug Drummond and LB port CEO Jon Slangerup who will visit Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co and CMA CGM.
"It's incredibly important that we let our customers know that despite the labour negotiation process and congestion, the Port of Long Beach is still the best place to do business on the west coast," said Mayor Garcia.
Also along are harbour commission vice president Rich Dines and commissioner Lou Anne Bynum, reports Lloyd's Loading List. They will detail the five-year docker deal and how Long Beach and Los Angeles will work to clear congestion.
The damage control visit comes after Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou said it would be prepared to offer more east coast services at the expense of west coast ports.
"A lot of customers talk about the fact that they need more than one gateway, and want to hedge their bets," said Mr Skou during the Journal of Commerce's Trans-Pacific Maritime conference.
If also follows news that research company Zepol data shows the ports of New York and New Jersey have surpassed Long Beach in container imports in the first two months of the year because of west coast congestion and labour strife this year
"Due to these events, it's the first time in over 11 years the port of New York/Newark has passed Long Beach as the second-largest port in the United States," said Zepol CEO Paul Rasmussen.
Long Beach suffered an 18.8 per cent year-on-year decline in container volumes in January to 429,490 TEU. The drop was 22.8 per cent in Los Angeles to 529,427 TEU.
Container Trades Statistics shows that containers heading to the Atlantic seaboard from Asia in January increased 4.6 per cent year on years in January to 544,755 TEU while west coast volumes fell 0.1 per cent year on year to 607,737 TEU.
Further north, volumes have switched to Canadian ports with Prince Rupert recording a 37.4 per cent increase in box volumes in January and February.