Critical Infrastructure at U.S. West Coast Intermodal Terminals

Intermodal terminals in U.S. West Coast ports have experienced remarkable growth in container processing, from 14.2 million containers in 2001 to 22.6 million in 2006. This growth, however, has not come without difficulties. Larger container ships, growing container volumes, and the implementation of new technologies adversely affected West Coast intermodal terminals in their ability to process peak-season container volumes efficiently. In addition to these difficulties, there were major labor disruptions in 2002 and again in 2004. The combination of growing container volumes and the possibility of additional labor disruptions focused attention on diverting containers from West Coast container terminals to container terminals in ports in Canada or Mexico. This review examines the impact of growing container ship size on intermodal terminal infrastructure and explains the labor disruptions in 2002 and 2004. Critical terminal infrastructure at U.S., Canadian, and Mexican container terminals is then summarized. Terminal infrastructure on the west coasts of Canada and Mexico is found to be significantly less than U.S. West Coast terminals and to be capable of processing only a small percentage of containers bound for the West Coast in the event of another major disruption.