Megaships are Calling US Ports in 2016

On December 26th, the largest containership, the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin, called on Los Angeles, CA. With a capacity of 18,000 TEUs the Benjamin Franklin is the first megaship to call a US port. Up to this point, megaships carrying 18,000 containers or more have been used exclusively in Asia-Europe trade lanes. Now that the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin has proven workable in Los Angeles, others will quickly follow. East Coast ports are rapidly trying to improve infrastructure to accommodate these megaships and the Post Panamax ships that are deploying in 2016.

The capacity of a megaship is astonishing in and of itself, but for ocean shippers and those dependent on container traffic there is a slight caveat; the infrastructure stress as cargo arrives and departs will be harrowing at the beginning. As more and more megaships begin to call US ports and those ports begin to finish their expansions to accommodate the traffic, delays are inevitable. They’ll be corrected and the benefits will outweigh any initial headaches, but we all have to expect the headaches to be there as our ports grow and change.

KFS has a plan in place to offset many of the issues we expect to see in the beginning. Our warehouses are strategically located close to the rails allowing us to unload and reload containers that would be overweight by trucking standards. We can bypass cartage delays and load more cargo or unload heavy cargo that would need two containers in one box and prepare to load onto a vessel, or break down and send to the final destination. The timeliness of your cargo is our priority. We can help.