New England’s ports building their niche

Port of Boston – The Hub

The Port of Boston is unquestionably the “Hub” (with apologies to Oliver Wendell Holmes who is credited with coining the expression) of New England’s international trade. And the Port of Boston is its largest containerport. But the Port of Boston, Paul W. Conley Container Terminal, run by the Massachusetts Port Authority, better known as Massport, is besieged on all sides by larger container ports. The Port of Montreal is around 300 miles north, Port of Halifax just over 479 miles northeast (almost 100 more by land) and Port of New York/New Jersey, a little over 200 miles to the southwest. And besides these nearby ports, add in the factor that ports throughout the entire Northeast corridor, down as far south as the recently blocked Port of Baltimore, (see Dan Ronan story on page 26) are also competing with Boston for freight, and ship calls.

Back in 2022 Massport completed a massive $850 million upgrade to Conley Terminal which along with dredging has made the terminal able to handle line haul size containerships in the 14,000 plus TEU range, keeping the Port competitive with Northeast rivals.

The first impacts of the upgrades were noticed in 2023 as the Port handled 236,975 TEUs compared to the 173,926 TEUs in 2022, a 36% change. The big statistic for Massport was the import TEUs from Asia which were up 80% to nearly 80,000 TEUs. This was also reflected in total vessel calls which hit 227 compared in 2023 to 130 in 2022. In the early going in 2024 (through March) the trend is holding as Asian import TEUs are up to 25% to 19,493 compared to 15,559 in 2023. Overall, total TEUs through March 2024 are up 62,116 compared to 52,316 compared to 2023 for the same period.

The port also may get a boost from the diversion of freight from the Port of Baltimore, but it is too early to say how that will have an impact on the overall numbers. Perhaps a bigger question is whether the Panama Canal low water will continue throughout 2024 slowing down Asian business. Early signs say it may be recovering which would be good news for the Port of Boston and all the Northeast ports.

Port of Davisville RI: America’s Largest Small Port Getting Bigger

The Port of Davisville, which is located within the Quonset Development Corporation business park, has regularly been in the top ten auto ports in the United States, and has been called America’s biggest small port. In 2023 The Port handled 200,000 plus autos in 2023 and the number could increase in 2024 by as much as 25%, or 4,000 vehicles per month, as a result of the realignment of shipping traffic due to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge outside Baltimore Harbor.

Another indicator of the increased activity at the Port of Davisville is Seaview Railroad, which operates on 14 miles of track throughout the business park.…