China envisages exporting consumer goods aboard container ships to Europe and receiving LNG cargoes via the NSR.

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The West Coast ports are clogged, so Moorman thinks more container ships carrying Asian goods bound for the Midwest and East will dock east of the Mississippi.

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And by the way, here in Florida, you are a gateway for this huge Latin American market that's growing. (Applause.) Which is why, during the Recovery Act, we helped local communities revamp their ports and their roads, so that we can move more products onto those container ships that are sending goods down to Brazil and Mexico and other parts -- Argentina, and all across our hemisphere.

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Goods could be transferred from the big container ships arriving at the port to smaller vessels which could then reach dozens of harbours in the southern United States.

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The growth in container traffic in the 1990s powered America's booming economy as retailers such as Wal-Mart bought goods from China and manufacturers such as Dell sourced parts from Asia for assembly in America.

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