# How do Asian goods get to the East Coast US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908 "2004-10-06T19:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/1 "2004-10-06T19:59:18Z")
Do they ship them all the way around, through the Panama Canal, or do they ship them to the West Coast and then train them? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/2 "2004-10-06T20:04:28Z")
My guess is that they do both. Easily trans-shipped items are probably loaded onto rail or truck and dispatched on their way. Items like cars and the like are probably either sent via the canal or around Africa. Anybody know for sure? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/3 "2004-10-06T20:59:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > My guess is that they do both. Easily trans-shipped items are probably loaded onto rail or truck and dispatched on their way. Items like cars and the like are probably either sent via the canal or around Africa. Anybody know for sure? 😃 Cars (at least some cars) are shipped by train. I’ve seen freight trains that were nothing but cars. They were from some Japanese or Korean manufacturer, but I can’t remember who. ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/4 "2004-10-06T21:33:09Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Do they ship them all the way around, through the Panama Canal, or do they ship them to the West Coast and then train them? At least for Canada we ship it via freight trains. We have several lines that span the whole country. ---
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/5 "2004-10-06T22:04:13Z")
Most goods travel through the canal end up at East Coast ports and then travel by train and truck to their destination. Auto’s are a big part of the [Port of Baltimore](http://www.mpa.state.md.us/info/cargo.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/6 "2004-10-06T22:46:35Z")
I used to work for an apparel company that bought a significant amount of their goods from Asian companies (particuarly mainland China). Most of the goods they brought in from Asian countries arrived at a west coast port,were unloaded and from there ended up on trains or trucks (occasionally planes) to a company warehouse - and almost all of those were in the SE U.S… One load might come in, get shipped by train to Nashville, then go from there to the nearby warehouse by truck. Some goods came into East Coast ports like Savannah or Miami (although those were more likely to be coming from plants in Latin America) and were then trucked to the appropriate warehouse. I can’t recall a shipment actually coming through the Panama Canal to be unloaded in an East Coast port - that doesn’t mean it never happened, as I certainly didn’t see every bill of lading for every shipment. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-asian-goods-get-to-the-east-coast-us/267908/7 "2004-10-06T23:34:28Z")
There was an interesting [article](http://www.shippingdigest.com/news/article.asp?ltype=trade&sid=376) in _Shipping Digest_ on February 9 about an increase in all-water freight services from Asia to the American East Coast. > [@](#): > > Cargo volume on all-water services from Asia to the East Coast spiked after the West Coast port shutdown in the fall of 2002, but the primary reason for the steady growth on these routes has been the decision by large retailers to build distribution centers close to the ports. > > Almost every major port has multiple services from Asia. The Port of New York and New Jersey, for example, has 20, the Port of Savannah 14, while Charleston has five. > … > The Suez route is a popular alternative for moving goods from Southeast Asia, and the rates are about the same as for shipments transiting the Panama Canal. Most all-water services from Asia, however, use the Panama route because it offers faster transits from China > … > Despite the recent growth, East Coasts ports handle less than a third of the Asian traffic that crosses the docks on the West Coast.