US ports slashed cargo handling rates

The global recession has bitten deeply into US seaports with cargo dwindling by more than a third, Exim News Service said.
This has forced the ports of Los Angeles and the neighbouring Long Beach to slash cargo handling rates to retain old customers and attract new business.
Oakland port in California has laid off 12 per cent of its staff and cancelled free tours for the public.
The number of ships idled around the world is approaching three times the number that were out of work during the last big ocean trade collapse in 2002.
If the stimulus package works, the downturn may end in the second quarter, an analyst calculated.
Imports at Los Angeles and Long Beach shrank by 18.1 per cent in February over the same month of 2008, and it is reported to be worse in other places.
Oakland is expected to be down by 22 per cent in February, compared with a year earlier, as US consumers continue to rein in spending and as retailers cut factory orders to avoid building inventories that just won’t sell.
The February downturn is expected to be 29 per cent in Tacoma, Washington, and 39 per cent in Seattle when those ports finish tallying container movements.
Unlike the West Coast ports, which deal almost exclusively in trade to and from Asia, East Coast ports have a more diversified mix of trade with Asia, Europe and Latin and South America.
Still, February trade is down at East and Gulf Coast ports ranging from 6.8 per cent at New York/New Jersey to as much as 29.5 per cent at Charleston, South Carolina.

Source: Transportweekly