US ports, shippers face major fallout from Suez Canal chaos Copy

The mega-container ship Ever Given is finally free. The Suez Canal is unblocked. Problem solved? Not even close. The problems for container lines and shippers have just begun. In the U.S. market, East Coast cargo flows will bear the brunt of the fallout, although consequences will be felt nationwide.

Most of the boxes transiting the Suez Canal move from Asia to Europe. But the waterway also handles very significant volumes from Southeast Asia and India to the East Coast.

Asian containers head to the East Coast along one of three competing ocean routes: via the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal or to the West Coast (with cross-country transport by truck or rail). The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) tracks the market share of each route.

The ACP data reveals why the Ever Given accident is so important to U.S. import markets. It shows that almost one in three containers from Asia transits the Suez Canal en route to the East Coast.