A ship is unloaded at the Port of Long Beach in 2008. Some industry leaders believe traffic will reduce when the Panama Canal is expanded in 2014. Photo by Ryan ZumMallen
2:30pm | One of the most pressing issues facing trade and employment at the Port of Long Beach will be discussed by scholars and industry experts in October, when California State University Long Beach (CSULB) holds a public Point/Counterpoint discussion on the upcoming 2014 expansion of the Panama Canal and what it will mean for the shipping industry.
The forum, entitled “Panama Canal Expansion: The Battle for Jobs and Cargo. Who Wins? Whose Loses? Who Decides?”, will be held on Wednesday, October 6 from 6:00pm-8:30pm in the Carpenter Center on the CSULB campus. Attendance and parking are free and seating in the 1,100-seat center is first come first serve.
The Port of Long Beach is the country’s second-busiest harbor and the largest employer in the region, and many industry leaders fear that the Panama Canal expansion will lead to reductions in business. When the canal is expanded, it will be able to accommodate newer, massive supertankers. Ports on the West Coast – like Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland and more – believe that shipping companies will elect to take their business to East Coast ports using the canal as a passageway.
These shipping companies, mostly from Asia and the South Pacific, will actually save time and money making the journey because the distance is not much greater and East Coast ports are often able to offer lower costs. Still others say that the ports can survive on reduced traffic, which would actually be a benefit to the region because pollution would decrease.
“The Panama Canal expansion is one of those issues that everybody talks about, yet nobody is clear on the implications for the Southern California ports,” said Marianne Venieris, executive director for the CSULB Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT), which is hosting the event. “When the expanded canal opens, importers will have to be aware of other trends that are emerging that could threaten cargo growth through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. On the other hand, some of these trends could end up favoring west coast ports.”
But local industry insiders have for years claimed that the danger posed by the canal expansion will put jobs in jeopardy. To keep the ports afloat, the argument goes, they’ll have to offer lower costs to shipping companies which will otherwise bolt to the East Coast. This was one of the main arguments that stopped a proposed Container Fee that would have charged shipping companies for each container brought into port, and the funds wold be used to fight pollution in the region. Opponents said that additional fees will drive business away when the canal opens.
Speakers include Paul Bingham from Wilbur Smith Associates in Virginia, and Mary Brooks from Canada’s Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“A shipper needs to be aware of all of the factors that might influence price and transport time and reliability,” said Venieris. “Additionally, we want to make sure the community understands what’s in it for them, good or bad. “If the goods don’t come through our ports, some might say that’s good because there will be less traffic, but it also means fewer jobs.”
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