Canada’s West Coast container ports stayed level in the first quarter of 2013 with the robust growth that they experienced last year. Year-over-year, Canadian ports saw a higher throughput volume in the first quarter of 2013, but a slight dip in West Coast traffic market share.
Overall, U.S. ports hold the biggest share of West Coast traffic, with the bulk of that handled by Southern California ports. The U.S. ports on the West Coast held an 85.6 percent share of the market during the first quarter of 2013, with the major ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles holding 62 percent of the overall market. Southern California’s share went up by roughly 1 percentage point from the previous year. The Port of Oakland held 10.5 percent of the market share in the first quarter, down three-tenths of a percentage point from the first quarter of 2012. Canada held 14.4 percent of the market, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the first quarter of 2012. However, Canadian market share on the West Coast is up from the 12.7 percent market share Canada’s ports held during the first quarter of 2011.
