When complete the new terminal will more than double Jacksonville's annual container capacity. "This is just the beginning for Jacksonville," said Schleicher, senior director of the Jacksonville Port Authority. "We expect to see more terminals being built in the next few years because international shippers need greater access to US consumers." What is happening in Jacksonville reflects a changing US economy. The shift of manufacturing overseas to developing nations like China has resulted in soaring imports of consumer goods and congestion at West Coast ports. The result is that four ports on the East Coast - Portsmouth in Virginia, Charleston in South Carolina, Savannah in Georgia and Jacksonville - are expanding because importers will need additional gateways into the United States, as long-term trade growth is expected.
Tom Mentzer, a logistics expert at the University of Tennessee, predicts West Coast ports will be at capacity by 2010, leaving Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville in particular in a strong position for further expansion as shippers seek alternative routes through the Panama or Suez canals. This is also expected to benefit the two US East Coast railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern as an alternative to trucking goods inland via increasingly congested highways. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, because of their size, are unlikely to lose their dominant role, as analysts say there will be plenty of growth to go round. The East Coast ports have embarked on major projects to take advantage of rising US imports - which have seen double-digit growth over the past three years - and are all vying for business from Asia and above all China. "China is a critical partner for us," said Curtis Foltz, chief operating officer at the Georgia Ports Authority, which plans to invest US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion) to raise Savannah's annual capacity from 2.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 6 million TEUs by 2015. Jacksonville will more than double capacity to 2 million TEUs from 800,000 by 2008. Portsmouth is expanding the port to take 1 million TEUs annually as of July 2007, up from the present 260,000. "The only limitation for growth at eastern ports is geography, as the West Coast is close to China," the University of Tennessee's Mentzer said.