Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Pacific Container Port Congestion Intensifies
Terminals, infrastructures strain under labor problems, equipment shortages, and a staggering surge of box cargo
CalTrade Report: "One-by one, like a line of dominoes stretching from Long Beach to Vancouver to Port Kelang to Chittagong, major ports circling the Pacific Rim are struggling under a surge in container cargo and a combination of other disparate issues that have melded into a sludge clogging the most critical artery in the global logistics network - the transpacific ocean routes linking Asia and North America.
In Chittagong - the largest port in Bangladesh and the center of the Southeast Asian's country's export-dependent economy - labor problems, exacerbated by a severe shortage of rail cars, have cut the port's daily container throughput in half.
Malaysia's largest harbor, Port Kelang has been struggling with a devils-brew of infrastructure problems that could be compounded if a threatened work slowdown develops over the next week."
CalTrade Report: "One-by one, like a line of dominoes stretching from Long Beach to Vancouver to Port Kelang to Chittagong, major ports circling the Pacific Rim are struggling under a surge in container cargo and a combination of other disparate issues that have melded into a sludge clogging the most critical artery in the global logistics network - the transpacific ocean routes linking Asia and North America.
In Chittagong - the largest port in Bangladesh and the center of the Southeast Asian's country's export-dependent economy - labor problems, exacerbated by a severe shortage of rail cars, have cut the port's daily container throughput in half.
Malaysia's largest harbor, Port Kelang has been struggling with a devils-brew of infrastructure problems that could be compounded if a threatened work slowdown develops over the next week."
