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西雅图:近水楼台先得“亚”

级别: 管理员
Surge in Asia's exports brings fresh life to north-west US ports

On a clear winter day at the Port of Tacoma, the Pierce County Container Terminal is full of bustling activity. Towering green and white cranes load empty containers bound for Taiwan and mainland China onto the Hatsu Sigma, owned by Evergreen, the Taiwanese shipping line that has exclusive use of the terminal. Behind her, the Ever Unific is being unloaded after arriving from Japan.


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Evergreen - which moved into the new terminal only months ago - is one of many shipping lines to have sharply increased traffic through the Puget Sound to Tacoma or nearby Seattle this year.

The once-minor ports have become important gateways for imports into the US from east Asia.

The pair are benefiting, observers believe, from importers' nervousness about depending too heavily on a single route for manufactured goods from Asia.

Such fears have been particularly pronounced on the US west coast because the southern Californian ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle most of the US's Asian container imports, were the worst affected of many worldwide container ports to experience congestion last year.

Neither had enough equipment or workers to handle an unexpected surge in China's exports.

"People are looking for multiple pathways for all the cargo to be able to get through and to deal with unforeseen circumstances," says Michael Moore, vice-president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which represents shipping lines.

Seattle and Tacoma have won the business for several reasons. Unlike Oakland, near San Francisco, they are independent of the congested Californian rail system. They also have deep enough water - unlike Portland, Oregon - to serve the largest modern container ships. The route to the east coast via the Panama Canal - another popular alternative to southern California - is becoming more difficult as the canal nears capacity.

It is also quicker to reach the north-western ports from east Asia than more southerly ports, because of the routes ships take across the Pacific. For cargo going to Chicago and some other destinations, the advantage is enhanced by good rail connections.

At Tacoma, international container traffic increased 38 per cent in the first 10 months this year over the same period last year. Seattle's international container traffic grew 26 per cent in the same period after also showing significant growth in 2004.

The north-west ports' smooth handling of growing traffic contributed to the near-elimination of congestion at US ports during last year's summer-to-autumn peak shipping season. Elsewhere in the world, similar shifts in traffic, efficiency improvements and the opening of new facilities had similar effects.

Shipping lines had failed for years to realise the north-western ports' potential, according to Neil Davidson, container ports analyst at London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants. "[This year] they were forced into doing it," he says.

Yet the growth could put strain on the region's port and rail capacity. Evergreen managers express frustration that on Fridays - Tacoma's busiest day - there are not always enough port workers for each container terminal.

Mic Dinsmore, chief executive of the Port of Seattle, says his port - which this year expects to handle around 2m 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers - will face capacity problems after it surpasses 3m TEUs annual throughput. "We're going to have a tremendous challenge to move that 3m containers up to the 4m mark," he says.

Timothy Farrell, executive director of the Port of Tacoma, says his port - which also expects to handle around 2m TEUs this year - has space to expand and could eventually reach an annual 11m TEU.

However, further work is needed on the port's already good rail connections."We are taking a look at the long-term system design, not only in the port but throughout the region," Mr Farrell says. Yet there will be little point investing if Seattle and Tacoma stop growing.

Many in the region believe this year's shift represents a long-term change in how the US handles its imports.

However, Robert Bohlman, president of the Marine Exchange of Puget Sound, which monitors shipping activity, is concerned that new container terminals being built on Canada's west coast could divert some of the traffic. Southern California's ports are also improving their terminals' efficiency and have introduced longer working hours, he points out.

Ominously, from a north-western point of view, the Port of Long Beach has grown strongly since it became clear there would be no repeat this year of last year's congestion.

"California got bit, they got bit bad," Mr Bohlman says. "They have taken some rather dramatic steps to change things."
西雅图:近水楼台先得“亚”


塔克马港(Port of Tacoma)一个晴朗的冬日,皮尔斯郡集装箱码头(Pierce County Container Terminal)熙熙攘攘,分外忙碌。高耸的绿白相间的起重机将空集装箱装载到“荣企轮”(Hatsu Sigma)上,这些集装箱将运往台湾和中国大陆。“荣企轮”为长荣集团(Evergreen)所有,这家台湾航运公司拥有这个码头的专属使用权。在该轮背后,从日本驶来的“Ever Unific”轮正在卸货。

长荣仅仅在数月前才进驻这个新码头。许多航运公司今年经普吉特湾(Puget Sound)至塔克马或邻近的西雅图(Seattle)的运输量大幅增加,长荣集团是其中之一。

这些昔日的次要港口,如今已成为美国从东亚进口货物的重要门户。


观察人士认为,这两个港口得益于进口商对亚洲制成品依赖单一航线的忧虑。

这种忧虑在美国西海岸表现得尤为明显,在去年经历拥挤状况的多个全球集装箱港口中,加州南部港口洛杉矶和长滩受到的影响最为严重,而这两个港口处理美国绝大部分亚洲集装箱进口。

这两个港口都没有足够的设备或工人,来应对中国出口的意外大幅增长。

代表航运公司的太平洋商船航运协会(Pacific Merchant Shipping Association)副总裁迈克尔?摩尔(Michael Moore)表示:“人们正在寻求多种途径,使所有货物都能够顺利抵达,并应对无法预见的情况。”

数个原因使西雅图和塔克马获得了业务。与旧金山附近的奥克兰不同,它们独立于拥挤的加利福尼亚铁路系统。同时,它们拥有深水码头,可供最大的现代集装箱货轮停靠,而不像俄勒冈州的波特兰。此外,由于巴拿马运河(Panama Canal)的承运能力接近极限,经该运河至美国东海岸的航线(替代加州南部港口的另一个热门选择)正变得日益困难。

还有,根据轮船选择的跨太平洋航线,从东亚到美国西北部港口,比到更靠南的港口要快一些。对于运往芝加哥和其它某些目的地的货物而言,良好的铁路交通增强了这一优势。

在塔克马,去年头10个月的国际集装箱流量同比上升38%。西雅图的国际集装箱流量同比上升26%,而2004年也实现了强劲的增长。

西北部港口顺利处理越来越多的运输量,为去年夏秋航运高峰期间接近消除美国港口拥堵作出了贡献。在全球其它地区,类似的流量布局变化、效率提高以及新码头投入运营也收到同样效果。

伦敦德鲁里航运咨询公司(Drewry Shipping Consultants)集装箱港口分析师尼尔?戴维森(Neil Davidson)表示,航运公司多年来未能认识到美国西北部港口的潜力。他说:“2005年它们被迫做到了这一点。”

不过,运输量增长可能会使该地区港口及铁路的承载能力面临压力。长荣集团经理们就表达了这样的不满:在星期五――塔克马最繁忙的日子――各集装箱码头不能保证有足够的工人。

西雅图港去年的集装箱吞吐量有望达到约200万标准箱(TEU)。该港首席执行官迈克?丁斯莫尔(Mic Dinsmore)表示,在年吞吐量超过300万标准箱之后,他的港口将面临吞吐能力问题。他表示:“要将吞吐量从300万箱提高至400万箱大关,我们将面临极大的挑战。”

塔克马港执行董事蒂莫西?法雷尔(Timothy Farrell)表示,他的港口――预计今年吞吐量同样有望达到约200万标准箱――还有扩展空间,最终年吞吐量可能达到1100万标准箱。

然而,在本已不错的港口铁路交通方面,仍有一些工作要做。法雷尔表示:“我们着眼于长期系统设计,不仅限于港口,而包括整个区域。”不过,如果西雅图和塔克马的流量不再增长,就没有必要投资。

该地区的许多人认为,今年的变化,代表着美国处理进口货物方式的长期转变。

然而,负责监控航运活动的普吉特湾航运交易中心(Marine Exchange of Puget Sound)总裁罗伯特?博尔曼(Robert Bohlman)担心,加拿大西海岸正在兴建的新集装箱码头会分流一些运输量。博尔曼指出,南加州港口也在提高码头效率,并已引入了更长的工作时间。

就西北部而言,一个不太好的兆头是,在人们意识到长滩港2004年的拥堵状况2005年不会重演之后,该港实现了强劲的增长。

“加州蒙受了损失,该港蒙受了更大损失,”博尔曼表示。“他们采取了一些力度颇大的措施来改变现状。”
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