Shifting Shares and West Coast Exports

Shifting Shares | Oakland Looking to Balance of Imports and Exports

By Jock O’Connell

Shifting Shares

Exhibit 6 depicts the continued surge in imports in January that gave USWC ports their largest share of the value of U.S. containerized import tonnage (47.0%) since the chaotic months of the summer of 2020. USWC ports also saw their highest share of containerized import tonnage (39.3%) since last September.

The shift to USWC ports was especially evident with respect to containerized imports from East Asia, as Exhibit 7 attests. On a value basis, USWC ports have lately been handling around two-thirds of all U.S. containerized imports from East Asia.

Oakland Looking to Balance of Imports and Exports

The Port of Oakland has recently adopted a new five-year plan that aims to grow its import volumes by, among other steps, attracting first-call service by at least one major ocean carrier.

The accompanying Exhibit 8 indicates that, despite periodic references to Oakland as an export-oriented port, it has actually been a few years since the Northern California port’s loaded outbound TEUs have exceeded its inbound loads. Indeed, its outbound containerized trade peaked way back in 2013 and has mostly been trending down ever since. By contrast, the port’s inbound trade has been rising almost steadily since the Great Depression. To be sure, there has been a very recent uptick in outbound loads, but then the port’s inbound container trade upticked even more.