Japan Earthquake Disrupts Imports, Exports with US

     Japan is the United States' fourth-largest trading（贸易） partner, and trade had increased the first two months of this year -- before the earthquake and tsunami¹. Now the two busiest container ports in the United States are seeing the effects of the disaster on Japanese imports.  It takes time for electronics and auto² parts to travel to a port in Japan, and then up to two weeks to cross the ocean.  Some exports of produce from the United States to Japan have also been disrupted.

    Every day, ships from Asia arrive at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  Located next to each other, these two ports on the West Coast are the busiest container ports in the United States.  And Japan is the second-biggest trading partner of the two ports combined.

    "Japan really helped build international trade 20 or 30 years ago and really is responsible for some of the growth here in the Port of Los Angeles," Phillip Sanfield said.

    Sanfield is spokesman for Los Angeles Port. He says Japan makes up 15 percent of the overall trade at the Port of Los Angeles.  The largest imports from Japan are auto parts and cars.  Nissans come through the Port of Los Angeles.

    Long Beach is one of the entry ports for Toyotas.  Art Wong is port of Long Beach spokesman. "I’ve heard that Toyota is beginning to slow down their shipment of cars here or even maybe even to stop having as many ships come here,” he said.  “So their plants have been shut down pretty much since the quake they’ve started up production again but certainly not at the same level."The same seems to be true for auto parts. "All of the auto dealers³ here that rely on parts are telling us there has been a slowdown," Sanfield said.

    It is not just incoming cargo⁴ from Japan that is slowing down. Some outgoing shipments from the United States have also been disrupted.

    "It’s caused a lot of obvious disruption on both sides of the water here and when it comes to agriculture and refrigerated agriculture in particular here it’s been a real troublesome time," Joe LoBue stated.

    LoBue developed the Japanese export market for LoBue Citrus more than 30 years ago. He says normally, 40 percent of his exports of oranges are sorted, packed and shipped to Japan.  Since the earthquake, he’s seen a 10 to 15 percent drop.

    "Those sales are gone and it’s a quarter of a million dollars worth of exportable sales that we won’t see," he said.

    LoBue says the loss comes from a string of problems that started with cancellations in the first week after the earthquake.

    Then there was the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

    "Some of the boats at the very beginning started diverting to other ports in Japan, some of the boats avoided Japan all together," LoBue stated.

    Once the oranges got to Japan there were problems with transportation and having enough electricity to refrigerate them.  LoBue says the Japanese are also not buying as many oranges from California because of the cost. "Imported goods are still a luxury and how much they will continue having problems they don’t know, but we’re hoping by the fall that things are better," he said.

    That hope is shared by officials at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

    Port officials say exports from the U.S. may increase in the form of lumber⁵ and equipment to help Japan rebuild after the earthquake.

    "So it’s not clear that overall we’ll actually have less trade with them this year and maybe this slowdown will pick up and accelerate and we may have as much or more trade later in this year," Wong said.

    Port officials say it will be weeks if not months before they will know exactly how the earthquake in Japan has affected⁶ imports and exports, and it may be much longer than that before trade with Japan is back to the same level as it was before.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

4 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

5 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。