Cargo volumes are down because Americans are buying less. High fuel prices are reducing cargo ship traffic and driving up rail prices. So far this year the number of automobiles shipped through the port is down 5.6 percent from last year, container traffic is down 3.6 percent and containers hauled away by train are down 11.5 percent.

Commercial specialists at the port conveyed this sobering news to port commissioners Thursday at a special study session at the Fabulich Center.

Even with the decreases, Tong Zhu, the port’s director of commercial strategy, expressed confidence in a long-term upward trend. Zhu predicted a 60 percent growth in trans-Pacific trade over the next six to seven years.

“As a port, we need to be prepared to engage that growth and we need to do that now,” Zhu said.

China will continue to dominate that trade, Zhu said, but at a less explosive rate than in the recent past.

High fuel prices have affected the port operation in a number of ways.

High gas prices turned consumers away from gas-guzzling SUVs and increased demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, leaving foreign manufacturers scrambling to produce cars Americans want. Meanwhile, national auto sales are down 10.5 percent for the first seven months of the year, reducing overall volumes shipped from overseas.

Suzuki opened a North American production facility and reduced its imports by 25 percent, and Kia Motors America realigned vehicle distribution to ports serving regions where sales are stronger, noted Andre Elmaleh, director of auto and port operated business.

Ships have slowed to save fuel and have been retrofitted in an attempt to meet environmental goals, said Brendan Dugan, senior director of the port’s container terminal business. Both mean higher prices for companies importing or exporting goods, he said.

“I hate to call it a trend, but some companies are beginning to look at near-shore sources,” Dugan said.

What that means is rather than importing goods from Asia, some manufacturing is returning to North America, he said, meaning a temporary downturn in trans-Pacific freight and less business at the port.

Ikea is about to open a furniture manufacturing plant in Virginia, Dugan said, and some auto parts suppliers are moving from Asia to Mexico.

If that weren’t bad enough, competition among ports is becoming stiffer on the West Coast. New ports are being developed in Mexico and Canada, and the $5.2 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is increasing the relative competitiveness of ports in Texas and on the East Coast.

Like Zhu, Dugan expressed overall confidence in Tacoma’s ability to remain competitive and excel by increasing efficiency.

“I view them all as opportunities for us to get better and smarter with what we do,” he said.

Rob Carson: 253-597-8693

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