West Coast ports are struggling to deliver the deluge of goods during what is usually the low season, with cargo from Asia expected to double by 2020.

China accounted for 37 percent of US imports by weight in 2004, up from only 5 percent in 1989, with shipments for Wal-Mart Stores accounting for 10 percent of the US trade deficit with China, a report by Swiss investment bank UBS found.

The growing trade has prompted Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway to open offices in China to market their alternative routes to shippers.

``Exports going to the US have another option that is shorter and cheaper,'' Canadian Pacific chief China representative Willy Wang said.

Northern ports in North America are a shorter distance from Asia and US-destined imports arriving through Canada are not subject to additional duties at the US border.

Unable to service the western US - whose rail tracks are owned by American rivals Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe - the Canadian firms want to move more Chinese exports to the US Midwest and East Coast, Wang said.

They own tracks heading from Canada to Minneapolis and Chicago that connect onward to New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore and go as far south as Texas and New Orleans.

Their shipping gateway through the Vancouver Port Authority has the lowest fees on the West Coast, as US operators have raised their own fees to try to stem the overload of goods.

Canada has lower port fees, union salaries and storage fees compared to the US, Port of Vancouver China representative Jenny Yan said.

US ports have greater concerns with stowaways and weapons smuggling and need more investments for technology. These concerns can result in goods being held up longer by customs.

Union Pacific announced rate increases earlier this year after floods and mudslides in southern California forced it to cut its services by one-third.

It said increases are here to stay due to rising oil prices and a lack of investment in new rail cars, and with railroads moving away from multiyear agreements with set prices in favor of short-term contracts or spot-market tariffs.

The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp has even asked for financial help from the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese governments for infrastructure improvements at the Port of Los Angeles, calculating that delays caused by infrastructure constraints are costing Asian exporters US$1.3 billion (HK$10.14 billion) annually.

The Port of Los Angeles is aware of the rivalry it faces from ports beyond the West Coast and outside the US. ``It is a concern that other ports are growing, but there was a significant increase in volume last year and growth has been seen at all ports,'' Port of Los Angeles director of planning Mike DiBernardo said.

He said problems last year were largely due to labor shortages from inaccurate projections from shipping lines which have been rectified this year.

Cargo traffic at the Port of Vancouver grew 11 percent year-on-year to 73.9 million tonnes in 2004, the largest gain in more than a decade.

Vancouver handled C$29 billion (HK$187.63 billion) in trade in 2004, with 56 percent of the volume of Canada's trade with China passing through.

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