'We Currently Have No Container Ships,' Seattle Port Says

I wonder how long that can last. Quite a bit of Vancouver traffic diverts to Seattle and Tacoma to avoid capacity issues, and there's finite warehouse capacity to hold containers that haven't gone through customs.

Wouldn't such capacity be relatively easy to build quickly if needed. Paved lots with a cranes?

Take a look at where Vancouver's port facilities are. They're shoved up against steep mountains, a major city, and a major suburb. That makes it some of the most expensive land in the world. You'll also need to register that land with the government to operate as a bonded warehouse and invest at least a little in security to meet the requirements. For its part, the Canadian government isn't terribly incentivized to help you acquire that land so you can explicitly avoid paying any import duties.

The Netherlands fixed the lack of land for container and oil terminals by creating artificial land in the 1960s.

If you look on Google maps you can see that the "port of Rotterdam" is actually located off the coast. Singapore and other cities followed this example.

Vancouver is in a fjord. Building artificial land is expensive because the water is deep and the currents are strong. They're aware of how to do it, because Seattle's port is mostly built on top of one of the world's largest artificial islands (harbor island). The depth of the fjord is actually a strength to Vancouver, because it means they're not limited on ship draft. Seattle is.

Looking at Google satellite imagery, there's quite a bit of farmland and even a golf course in Vancouver. I'd guess challenges would be mostly cost of land and local zoning politics related,