Post-Panamax-effects on Major U.S. Ports

The role of large U.S. port cities has been affected by mega transportation infrastructure, such as seaports or navigable ports through rivers or lakes. Adapting to the globalization process, which has brought speeder changes, requires developing strategic operation in order for port management to survive in the internationally competitive urban systems. The port-dependent urban areas need to integrate their economic activities into the scope and complexity of city services and commodity activities in order to convey international trade more efficiently. This paper delivers what components need to be considered to understand the maritime shipping route changes and what types of methods have been applied to measure the changes from the Panama Canal expansion. While it is still important to build a sophisticated state-of-the-art model to conduct empirical analysis, this paper only discusses what the expected changes would occur on both the West Coast and South East Coast ports, specifically the Port of New York and New Jersey (PNYNJ) with various limitations. Simultaneous responses to the economic impacts on the other states of the U.S. made it difficult to forecast the economic effects on PNYNJ of the Panama Canal expansion. While the West Coast ports or major ports in Southeast Asia may experience a potential reduction in trade volume, they may inversely improve the utility of these ports; still, it is not easy to predict the change quantifiably. The international port authorities and policy makers, at national and local levels, who are responsible for developing seaport plans on the new realities of the Canal expansion and in the context of global maritime shipping, also need to understand changes in various inter-connected behaviors related to shipping, trucking and rail-related companies. This is because these behaviors may affect the choice of logistics, labor costs, and the status of economic and transport hubs. Finally, this study demonstrates the necessity of developing plausible scenarios that account for the investment strategy of the PNYNJ.