Michael Barone Washington Examiner
The widening of the Panama Canal, scheduled to be completed by 2014, will probably result in a decline of the business-unfriendly port of Los Angeles/Long Beach in favor of the equally man-made but business-friendly port of Houston.
If you look at the map, Houston and Atlantic ports like Jacksonville and Charleston are located far closer to the bulk of America’s population than Los Angeles/Long Beach. In the 2000-10 decade, the population of the three West Coast states, the one area where cargo landed at the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach has a land-freight cost advantage over cargo landed at Houston, increased just 11% to 47.8 million. In contrast, the population of Texas increased 21% to 25.1 million, that of the South Atlantic states from Virginia to Florida 17% to 50.7 million and that of the Southern states in between by 7% to 31.5 million.
The port of Los Angeles/Long Beach has been one of California’s great economic assests. Kotkin is warning that it may be an asset of declining value.
The widening of the Panama Canal, scheduled to be completed by 2014, will probably result in a decline of the business-unfriendly port of Los Angeles/Long Beach in favor of the equally man-made but business-friendly port of Houston.
If you look at the map, Houston and Atlantic ports like Jacksonville and Charleston are located far closer to the bulk of America’s population than Los Angeles/Long Beach. In the 2000-10 decade, the population of the three West Coast states, the one area where cargo landed at the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach has a land-freight cost advantage over cargo landed at Houston, increased just 11% to 47.8 million. In contrast, the population of Texas increased 21% to 25.1 million, that of the South Atlantic states from Virginia to Florida 17% to 50.7 million and that of the Southern states in between by 7% to 31.5 million.
The port of Los Angeles/Long Beach has been one of California’s great economic assests. Kotkin is warning that it may be an asset of declining value.
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