Historical ocean freight data shows a pivot away from East Coast ports during the last El Niño
Decisions by ocean carriers providing tealeaves of more West Coast-bound freight
San Pedro clean air regulations require 35% of all containers to move away from terminals via train
Ocean Carrier, ACL is offering North America landbridge alternatives for shippers
When you look at the flow of trade, many headlines focus solely on the number of containers coming into the nation’s ports. But trade is more than the port itself. It’s the nodes beyond those gates: the trucks, trains, and warehouses that help keep trade fluid.
Each node makes revenue by moving or storing those containers. This is the investable actionability of the logistics data.
2026 marks a historic year for West Coast ports processing historic container volumes. Shippers have frontloaded freight to avoid tariffs and bottlenecks tied to the U.S. war with Iran, as well as increasing imports of AI power infrastructure components to support the massive buildout of data centers.
Adding to these volumes are diverted containers due to Mother Nature.
Lessons from the 2023/24 El Niño’s devastating impact on the Panama Canal have ocean carriers proactively changing their game plan now, instead of reacting in the coming months.
I’ve covered how trucking and warehousing are benefiting from the container increase before, so in this article I am focusing on rail.
The increase in rail volumes comes at a time when the Surface Transportation Board is reviewing the merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, which would create the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. The companies say the connectivity would create seamless travel and reduce costs.
