Source: Rodrigue, J-P and T. Notteboom (2010) "Comparative North American and European Gateway Logistics: The Regionalism of Freight Distribution", in press, Journal of Transport Geography.

The North-American Container Port System and its Multi-Port Gateway Regions

The observed cargo concentration levels in the North American container port system are emanating from the increasing dominance of Long Beach/Los Angeles as the major gateways along the Pacific Coast, mainly catering for Asian import cargo. The Pacific Coast now accounts for 55% of the total container volume handled, up from 50% in 1990, placing intense pressures on its main gateways. The share of the Los Angeles / Long Beach port cluster of the total US container traffic grew from 32.4% in 1997 to 37.8% in 2006. During the same period, New York/New Jersey’s share increased slightly from 11.2% to 13.2%. Essentially, traffic doubled every decade, an indication of a rapid growth of international trade as well as the diffusion of containerization as a privileged mode of transportation. However, the extent to which this trend will endure is highly questionable as evidenced by the economic slowdown that began in 2008.

Along these gateway regions, various long distance intermodal rail corridors have been established. The inland rail freight transport system of North America is unique in the world, not only because of its sheer size, but also because of the direct link made between three different coastlines. Major North American hinterlands are changing, namely because of the relative decline of the industrial belt (which has been monitored for decades) and the industrialization of the “sun belt”. These are long term shifts influencing the geography of production and consumption that are reflected in the gradual reorientation of trade. NAFTA also favors the setting of what can be labeled as natural gateways and corridors, since they reflect geographic advantages (market accessibility) as opposed to regulatory impositions (e.g. a mandated port of entry) that prevailed before. This particularly concerns Canada (Vancouver and Montreal) and Mexico (Lazaro Cardenas) that have experienced a gradual reorientation of traffic flows. 

Home | Contents | Media | Glossary | Links | About | Contact | Purchase

Copyright © 1998-2012, Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Dept. of Global Studies & Geography, Hofstra University, New York, USA.
This material (including graphics) cannot be copied or redistributed, in whole or in part, in ANY FORM (printed or electronic) and on ANY MEDIA. For specific uses permission MUST be requested and the material must be cited.