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Re: Mexican ports - exporting the emissions from LA?
Author: mook
Date: 08-08-2016 - 18:20
If you're thinking Ensenada or the other project in northern Baja, no, it hasn't happened (yet).
There are several other ports on the Mexican west coast that handle container and bulk traffic though not in huge volumes. Inland transport capacity is an issue even for those with railroads.
There are a couple of Canadian ports (Prince Rupert, Vancouver) that can handle container and bulk traffic, and have decent rail connections to the mid-continent. Likewise, Seattle-Tacoma does a good container business, while Portland is more into specialties and Oakland seems to be having a pause in container traffic growth. San Diego is pretty much just bulk and cars and seems likely to stay that way since containers need specialized port equipment and space, deep draft at big docks, and they pretty much have to go through LA to get to San Diego anyway.
The improved Panama Canal will certainly adjust traffic at the West Coast ports (ALL of the West Coast), but when it all settles I expect the LA/Long Beach ports to still move somewhere near half of the container traffic approaching and leaving the West side of North America. The port facilities, local demand (which is significant, not just for transloading), and capacity to move stuff inland by rail and highway just can't be matched by any other single port, and barely so by all of the others put together except possibly Sea-Tac.
The emissions issue isn't just with the ports, though the LA/Long Beach ports are certainly an 800# gorilla. Despite improved emission controls, diesel trucks in large volumes still produce localized air quality problems along freeways and around terminal/warehousing sites whether draying or just hauling - not as bad as even just a few years ago, but still bad enough. And railroads can't be ignored - operations that are local to California like switching lines will probably be pushed to eliminate the rest of their older locomotives and replace, preferably with Tier 4 (expect some public funding for that, as in the past). There will be continued pressure on EPA to tighten long-haul diesel standards even though Tier 4 only recently started. Bottom line: there are still plenty of emission reductions to be wrung out of commercial transportation in general though, as with cars, we're past the point of low-hanging fruit.
There are several other ports on the Mexican west coast that handle container and bulk traffic though not in huge volumes. Inland transport capacity is an issue even for those with railroads.
There are a couple of Canadian ports (Prince Rupert, Vancouver) that can handle container and bulk traffic, and have decent rail connections to the mid-continent. Likewise, Seattle-Tacoma does a good container business, while Portland is more into specialties and Oakland seems to be having a pause in container traffic growth. San Diego is pretty much just bulk and cars and seems likely to stay that way since containers need specialized port equipment and space, deep draft at big docks, and they pretty much have to go through LA to get to San Diego anyway.
The improved Panama Canal will certainly adjust traffic at the West Coast ports (ALL of the West Coast), but when it all settles I expect the LA/Long Beach ports to still move somewhere near half of the container traffic approaching and leaving the West side of North America. The port facilities, local demand (which is significant, not just for transloading), and capacity to move stuff inland by rail and highway just can't be matched by any other single port, and barely so by all of the others put together except possibly Sea-Tac.
The emissions issue isn't just with the ports, though the LA/Long Beach ports are certainly an 800# gorilla. Despite improved emission controls, diesel trucks in large volumes still produce localized air quality problems along freeways and around terminal/warehousing sites whether draying or just hauling - not as bad as even just a few years ago, but still bad enough. And railroads can't be ignored - operations that are local to California like switching lines will probably be pushed to eliminate the rest of their older locomotives and replace, preferably with Tier 4 (expect some public funding for that, as in the past). There will be continued pressure on EPA to tighten long-haul diesel standards even though Tier 4 only recently started. Bottom line: there are still plenty of emission reductions to be wrung out of commercial transportation in general though, as with cars, we're past the point of low-hanging fruit.
