JACKSONVILLE — East Coast ports are growing at a faster rate than their West Coast counterparts, according to CBRE Group Inc.’s “North America Ports Logistics Annual Report.”
Though the East Coast ports are gaining ground, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach still topped the report’s first-ever “Ports and Logistics Index.” That’s due to infrastructure that is well suited to handle the largest cargo container ships, their proximity to Asian export markets, a strong local economy and a deep industrial real estate market, notes CBRE.
Jacksonville ranked at No. 15 based on strong industrial real estate market fundamentals and infrastructure capabilities.
“Although the location needs of supply chain users are somewhat fixed given existing distribution centers and customer locations, these networks are always evolving and adjusting to meet increasingly complex inventory requirements,” says David Egan, head of industrial research in the Americas for CBRE.
“As ports across North America continue to address operational efficiencies caused by greater cargo volumes, labor disputes and a shortage of workers, supply chain users are exploring diversification strategies that move some portion of inbound cargo from the congested West Coast ports to East and Gulf Coast ports,” adds Egan.
The 6-15-ranked ports on the Index are:
6. Savannah
7. Charleston
8. Metro Vancouver
9. Virginia (Norfolk)
10. Houston
11. Baltimore
12. Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale)
13. PortMiami
14. Montreal, Canada
15. Jacksonville
When it comes to port infrastructure alone — which measured total twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) volume, long-term growth in annual TEU volume and year-over-year growth in TEU volume — Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey and Long Beach took the top spots, while Jacksonville came in at No. 15. The Port of Jacksonville experienced a 1.3 percent year-over-year growth in TEU volume.
“For the past five years, port-centric industrial real estate has been one of the industry’s best-performing sectors, which will position Jacksonville as an extremely attractive target for logistics operations,” says Quinn Eddins, director of research and analysis for Jacksonville-based CBRE Florida.
With respect to the real estate ranking component, which was weighted less heavily in the overall rankings than port infrastructure, the characteristics measured included a market’s total size, availability of existing industrial space, demand activity, historical and forecasted construction rates, rent growth and each market’s position in its own cycle.
The markets with healthy amounts of existing and planned space for their size, and which have experienced growth during the current recovery cycle but have not yet reached their peaks, rose to the top of the list. Los Angeles and Long Beach were the top-ranked markets in this component, with Houston, Oakland and Seattle/Tacoma rounding out the top five.
Click here to read the full report.
— Staff Report