U.S. West Coast shipping employers and dockworkers reached a tentative agreement in 13 months of contentious negotiations that could bring back some of the cargo lost during the talks, but changing trade patterns and increasing competition from East Coast and Gulf Coast ports could end West Coast dominance.

According to PIERS, the West Coast's share of U.S. imports from Asia has fallen from 71 percent in 2013 to 56 percent in the first five months of 2023, while the East Coast and Gulf Coast's combined share of Asian imports has risen from 29 percent to 44 percent.

West Coast In the past 20 years, protracted contract negotiations marked by disruptions have been pushing cargo away, allowing eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast ports to expand into the Midwest, and the 2002 outage triggered a shift that accelerated last year.

Unlike restricted Southern California, ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast generally have more room to expand, with Seattle and Oakland expanding less. Ports operated by states such as Virginia also enjoy a degree of control that landlords do not.

Georgia Port Authority Executive Director Grieve Lynch this week at the Georgia Foreign Trade Conference (GFTC) said, "Inevitably, we're going to have a question, how much of the cargo goes back to the West Coast? Why is the East Coast and the Gulf region gaining market share, is it sustainable?"

Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka answered the question in an interview, "You're too expensive, you have very unique labor issues, and you're overregulated.

Production is increasingly moving from China to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Goods are usually transported through the Suez Canal to the United States and landed on the east coast, which makes the west coast cargo face further increased risks.

the eastern United States and Gulf Coast ports can enjoy the geographical advantage of shifting purchases to India and Vietnam. According to PIERS, China, including Hong Kong, while still dominating the procurement sector, accounted for 40.7 percent of U.S. imports last year, down from 42.4 percent in 2021. "

Georgia's data mirrored this trend, showing that the percentage of Savannah imports from China fell from 49 percent in 2018 to 41 percent in 2022, while India's share grew from 5.4 percent to 6.3 percent and Vietnam's from 3.7 percent to 9.8 percent.

as port infrastructure improves, India is attracting more manufacturing. The share of U.S. imports from India edged up to 3.9 percent last year from 3.8 percent in 2021, driven by higher prices for clothing and steel components.

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