b'12American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(PORTScontinued fromtopubliccontainertermi-page 10) withEastCoastnals. Although there is someTop 20 North Americananewpactoverlap between bulk freightPorts by Tonnageand Gulf waterfront manage- andcontainermovementsit ment. The ILAs pact expiresis relatively small in relation20222023on September 30 th , 2024, andtotheoverallbulktrades.RankPortState TONNAGETONNAGEData/Dateover the past year there wasAnd the bulk trades are big. 1Port of Los Angeles CA241,406,000244,713,000FY22 FY21hopeexpressedbyallpar- Forinstance,in20222Port of South Louisiana LA239,257,75862,010,639Jan-April 2023ties that the agreement couldtheUnitedStatesexported be fast tracked but that nowaround161milliontonsof3Port of Corpus ChristiTX187,900,00090,100,000Jan-June 2023seems unlikely. agriculturalproductsworth4Port of VancouverBC-CA155,000,00088,074,670Jan-June 2023But with the new dynam- $169billion.Addtothat5Port of New York/New JerseyNY/NJ107,000,000N.A.Estimateics will the West Coast portsnumbertheUSexported6Port of Long BeachCA99,208,018N.A.Estimatereprise their role as the gate- 3.6 million barrels a day (or7Port of New OrleansLA89,500,000N.A.2021 BTS Reportways of choice in the future?about540million/tons/day)8Port of Greater Baton RougeLA72,000,000N.A.Estimate 2020 DOECertainly,theSanPedroof crude oil in 2022. Although9Port of BeaumontTX70,600,000N.A.EstimateportsofLongBeachandChina was formerly a major10Port of Mobile AL58,000,000N.A.EstimateLos AngeleslooktoremainimporterofUSoil,that11Port of HoustonTX52,544,17553,989,267Jan-Nov 2023NorthAmericasdominatedynamicchangedwithRus- 12Port of Lake Charles LA48,300,000N.A.2021 BTS Reportgateway.InaJanuary10 th ,sias invasion of the Ukraine.13Plaquemines Port DistrictLA47,000,000N.A.Estimate 2020 DOE2024,articleonwww.ajot. AstheEnergyInforma- 14Port of BaltimoreMD43,300,000N.A. combyStasMargaronis,tionAgency(EIA)reported15Port of SavannahGA42,000,000N.A.EstimateLAsSerokasaysportsofsinceearly2022,tradepat-LA & Long Beach increasedterns have shifted because of16Port ArthurTX41,200,000N.A.Estimatemarket share in 2023, Port ofRussiasfull-scaleinvasion17Port of MontrealQUE-CA39,680,27238,962,475 Los Angeles executive direc- ofUkraineandtheensuing18Port of Freeport TX38,700,000N.A.Estimate 2021torEugeneSerokareported,WesternsanctionsofRus- 19Port of Texas CityTX34,000,000N.A.Estimate 2020 DOEWewerepleasedtoseea(PORTScontinued on20Port of Virginia VA25,354,14817,742,4762021/2022 Jan-Aug3% bump in our West Coastpage 15)marketsharecomparedto EastandGulfCoastports. Workingtogetherwithour partners at the Port of Long Beach,wehavemadeSan Pedro Bay the countrys big-gest gatewaynearly double thesizeofthenextlargest port complex.Buttheoutlookcame with an interesting caveat as Seroka noted, Whileour 2023 total volume was more than8.6milliontwenty-foot units, down about 13% comparedto2022.Thatsa dramaticrecoveryfromthe decreaseofmorethan30% we saw after the first quarter of the year.Fromalong-termper-spective, the drought in Panama could end in the next cycle of weather,theHouthiscould endtheirblockadeofthe Red Sea transits and the ILA could ink a new contract with management and the shift of marketsharetoEastCoast and Gulf ports could reboot. Still, in the short term, West Coast ports, as Seroka noted, will be on the march rebuild-ingtheirmarketshareof North American box traffic.b ulkt onnagea b igd ealAlthoughthecontainer business is the one that makes the headlines, bulk tonnage is a big deal for US ports. And it is worth examining the dif-ferences in the business. The containerbusinessisheavy on the inbound legessen-tiallyhighvalueconsumer goodswhileoutbound there is less freight, and it is oftenheavierandlessvalu-able. This dichotomy in trade of inbound to outbound, has meantitisalwaysdifficult forcontainershipoperators to balance their inbound and outbound loads, complicating the positioning of containers.On the other hand, the US isamajorexporterofbulk cargo which is largely handed bybulkandbreakbulkves-selsandareoftenloadedat private terminals, as opposed'