Atlantica

The Panama and Suez Canals are offering shippers a way to avoid congested West Coast ports. In this article in Logistics Today, journalist Roger Morton takes a look at the east coast alternatives to the west coast regulars.

The ports of Atlantica aren't the only ones in North America vying for the title of Gateway to the Heartland. However, usually one looks at the ports on the west coast of the continent as the competition. That's not always the case, and definitely won't be the case if South Carolina has its way.

It was the first ever conference for the Canadian Marine Pilots' Association, and Atlantica was front and centre. In this article, from Canadian Sailings magazine, journalist Julie Gedeon explains the golden opportunity that has been presented to the International Northeast, which we call Atlantica.

Global containerization is expected to double over the next decade. In this article in Canadian Sailings, Julie Gedeon explains that container flow to North America is predicted to soar by 75 per cent from 41.1 million TEUs to 72 million TEUs by 2015. It's a golden opportunity for Atlantica.

It is the Main Street for Atlantica - a highway from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Watertown, New York. The US government has just announced million sof dollars in funding and put the east-west portion of that main street from Calais, Maine to New York on its high priority corridor map.

Canadian Sailings, a magazine of transportation and trade logistics, featured Atlantica in its October 3rd edition. In an article by Tom Peters, Atlantica is described as the intersection of three powerful trade relationships - NAFTA, EU-NAFTA, and the Suez Express.

In his regular monthly column in Progress magazine Jim Meek says there's hope for Atlantica and transportation infrastructure is the key. However, he warns the "road to Rome" will not be built in a day.

Atlantica isn't the only region looking to capture some of the expected increase in export traffic from Asia. On the west coast of Canada, the Vancouver Port Authority has signed a 50-year-deal which includes a massive increase to capacity at Deltaport.

There is no doubt the biggest increase in container traffic in the coming years will likely come from Asia. While Atlantica can capture that business, it has to go after it. The biggest competititon comes from places like Vancouver and Los Angeles, and they aren't taking anything for granted. British Columbia has established a council with one goal in mind.