The ports in the Northeast have for the most part emerged from the recession. The numbers reflect an upward trend, if not a full return to the post recession figures. Most of the region’s ports have continued to develop their infrastructure to address cargo demands that almost certainly will accelerate in the next decade. By George Lauriat, AJOT Many of the Northeast ports saw some recovery in 2011, although numbers are still down compared to the pref -recession totals. The Northeast’s major ports, Halifax, Montreal and New York/New Jersey, frame an area served also by a number of regional ports of which the Port of Boston is the largest but also includes ports like Portland, Maine; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Davisville/Providence, Rhode Island; New Haven, New London; and Bridgeport in Connecticut and the Port of Albany in upstate New York. Although the region is fairly well defined, it is also significantly influenced by other ports’ vessel rotations outside the region, such as Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland. There is a feeling among port pundits that the worst of the recession is over albeit with a number of significant challenges lining up for 2012, 2013 and 2014. Those challenges include the current labor talks between the ILA (International Longshoremen’s Association) and waterfront management on a new contract. Also on the horizon is the completion of the Panama Canal expansion, which is due in 2014. There is also the current situation with the ocean carriers in which they have added new, much larger ships during a relatively flat period creating far more space than can be filled. Long-term there is the question of how these ships of nearly 18,000 teus will impact ports in regions like the Northeast. There are other nagging issues such as dredging and the HMT (Harbor Maintenance Tax), improving inland connections whether its road, rail or even container feederships. Collectively, the Northeast ports have undertaken a tremendous amount of infrastructure development, somewhat taking the recession as a respite from the pressures associated with year on year increases in box traffic. Also during the recession, ro-ro and break bulk facilities have been upgraded and shifts in trading patterns have sometimes added, and other times detracted, from niche ports whose livelihoods lie largely in the non-containerized sectors. Northeast MarketThe New England/Northeast market for many who sell transportation services in the region runs from the Port of Halifax down to the Port of Bridgeport, Connecticut and up to the Port of Montreal on the Saint Lawrence River. For purposes of selling transportation services, generally west of Bridgeport is considered to be part of the New York/New Jersey region. This isn’t to discount the importance of the Port of New York/New Jersey on the “greater” New England market. The Port of New York/New Jersey is likely New England’s largest port – but rather a loose definition of a market area. How many containers are actually moved in the Northeast region is an open question? Recently, American Feeder Lines (AFL) COO Rudy Mack said that the feeder service company (which runs a container feeder ship between the ports of Halifax-Boston-Portland) “estimates a total import market [direct and indirect] of 166,468 teus available through the [Port of] Halifax.” A vast majority of Mack’s containers are inbound from China, amounting to over 81,000 teus. Another 23,000 plus teus are attributed to Hong Kong. The Port of Boston, New England’s largest container port, annually handles between 160,000-200,000 teus at its South Boston Conley Container Terminal. Many inbound containers also migrate south from the Port of Montreal by truck and over the Vermont border at Saint Albans, Vermont. Add in the boxes trucked in and out of the Port of New York/New Jersey and the total could well approach 500,000 teus. This doesn’t include a much larger total of boxes transiting the region for the Midwest and Southwest. While the boxes are the big fish, there is a significa