North American container port capacity: An exploratory analysis

Major North American container ports were surveyed for their opinions of capacity concerns in consideration of rapidly rising container volumes. The results indicate several areas of concern. For one, the ports expect capacity issues to worsen in the next ten years, implying current congestion problems will also deteriorate. The ports are also highly concerned about a considerable number of capacity drivers, many of which are controlled by other stakeholders including governments, railroads, truck carriers, and labor unions. These results point to a need for an immediate and coordinated approach among multiple stakeholders to address imminent port capacity issues.