Swelling Asia import trade strains capacity of all major U.S. ports

[sasha031]

Every major container seaport in North America handled more import cargo in 2005 than ever before as trade with Asia continued to swell and importers looked for alternatives to Southern California's crowded docks.
The growth was so brisk and so uniform along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts that observers are worried other regions will see the kind of congestion that brought the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to a near standstill in 2004.

In 2005, Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's busiest harbor complex, handled 14.2 million containers, an increase of 8 percent from 2004, without that year's cargo tie-ups. But business in many spots grew even faster last year as retailers diversified their ports of entry, in part to avoid another floating traffic jam in Southern California.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/detail.asp?ID=76480&GRP=E

[Flabbergasted]

1. They want to dredge the Columbia and bring it into Portland?

Unfortunately there is long dormant toxic dumps all along the columbia which will become unsettled. Quite Unsettling!