The Panama Canal is being widened to allow passage of larger ships. This means West Coast ports will face more competition from East Coast ports (see here for more). The ports of Seattle and Tacoma merged their marine cargo functions last year (to form the Northwest Seaport Alliance), in part to "strengthen the Puget Sound gateway and attract more marine cargo for the region."

The Alliance reported last week that international container volumes through the Puget Sound increased by 8 percent over 2014 (after decreasing 3 percent from 2013 to 2014). Overall port volumes increased by 4 percent.

That's good news. Additionally, this week Jon Talton at the Seattle Times writes, "the full effects of the wider Panama Canal won’t be felt by West Coast ports this year" — giving the Seaport Alliance "some time for efforts to reverse years of falling market share relative to competing ports, especially LA/Long Beach, Vancouver, B.C., and Prince Rupert."

Meanwhile, megaships provide opportunities and challenges for Seattle and Tacoma, which are both natural deep water ports. Talton quotes Tara Mattina, spokeswoman for the Northwest Seaport Alliance:

“That said, it takes more than deep water, strong berths and large cranes to land these megaships on a regular basis,” she said. “We’ll also need to make sure the terminals and the road and rail infrastructure outside the terminal gates can handle these larger influxes of cargo efficiently. That’s why you hear the Northwest Seaport Alliance talk about the need to invest in infrastructure in both harbors. We’ve known the megaships are coming; they appear to be arriving faster than first forecast.”