High fuel costs, slow steaming and other global factors have made going the extra distance through the Panama Canal less enticing.
West Coast ports have fast rail connections to the east – considerably faster than going south to Panama, transiting the canal, and then steaming back north to the East Coast. Although ships ton-for-ton and mile-for-mile offer the most environmentally friendly way to transport cargo, the greater distances involved with a ship using the all-water route through the Panama Canal erodes much of that advantage. … The current practice of slow-steaming will only magnify that time difference.