91ÊÓƵ

The development of self-driving trucks and how they might one day revolutionize the shipment of goods inland has been widely reported. However, while lower on the radar screen, automated container ports are increasingly available for use and already have begun to benefit motor carriers in several ways, industry experts said.

With data now in for the first third of the year, operators of some of the nation’s ports said they are setting records as the economy keeps booming — even as volume dipped at the nation’s largest port.

The American Association of Port Authorities has written to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer urging the Trump administration to carefully consider the negative impact trade sanctions could have on the country’s ports and the trucking and transportation industries.

Ports across the United States are shattering monthly and yearly records for the amount of cargo being shipped, and transportation industry experts say the trend likely will continue as the U.S. economy remains on a steady pace.

Cargo volume is on a record pace for the Port of New York and New Jersey, which said in February it set a monthly record for cargo volume, and that it is on track to improve upon the record set in 2017, when it handled 6.7 million 20-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs.

A company that got its start as an online marketplace to connect drivers and loads is branching out to provide a broader array of logistics services between the United States and China.

Truck drivers took seven minutes less, on average, to enter and exit the two large Southern California ports in February compared with the same period a year ago.