Larger Panama Canal could shrink inland economy

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Sometimes it is interesting to look at the local effects of a global industry. For all the talk of what a game-changer the expanded Panama Canal is likely to be for containerised supply chains, for one small area near Los Angeles it could be the death knell. It is estimated that out of the 7m containers that the port of LA handles each year, some 2.5-3m head to midwest or even east coast destinations – and the vast majority of those pass through the nearby counties of San Bernadino and Riverside, which abound with warehousing and logistics facilities to service that cargo – which could find their economies devastated if a significant portion of that traffic switches to the all-water route to the east coast.