According to a review of trends in shipping, the January 14th edition of The Economist detailed expansion of the Tuas Mega port in Singapore and Rotterdam in Holland. Both facilities made use of reclaimed land, given the environmental restraints to expanding existing ports such as Piraeus in Greece and Veracruz in Mexico both having limited expansion plans.
The Tuas Mega port incorporates a high level of automation including movement and storage of containers. To save space, the Jebel Ali port in Dubai uses a BoxBay storage system allowing containers to be stacked 11-high but with the capability of retrieving individual containers.
Alternatives to restricted space include “dry ports” inland to allow remote loading and unloading of containers for subsequent transport to harbors for rapid transfer to vessels. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are heavily dependent on labor and are inefficient compared to modern installations in Asia. Gulf and East Coast ports authorities in the U.S. have invested in dredging and new installations and technology to handle and store both dry and refrigerated container cargo.