Japan is the United States' fourth-largest trading partner, and trade had increased the first two months of this year -- before the earthquake and tsunami. 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 auto 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.
日本是美国第四大贸易伙伴。地震海啸发生之前，两国间贸易额今年头两个月有所增长。可地震灾难对日本的出口造成了严重影响，并在美国两个最繁忙的集装箱码头体现出来。日本电子产品和汽车部件一般需要一段时间才能抵达日本港口，然后需要两个星期才能横跨太平洋抵达美国。美国对日本的一些产品出口也受到了影响。
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.
地处美国西海岸的洛杉矶港和长滩港每天都有从亚洲出发的货轮抵达这里。这两个港口彼此相邻，是美国最繁忙的集装箱码头。洛杉矶港发言人桑菲尔德(Phillip Sanfield)说，日本是这两个港口的第二大贸易伙伴。
"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.
他说：“日本20或30年前加速了国际贸易的发展，洛杉矶港口的发展的确离不开日本的贡献。”
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.
桑菲尔德说，洛杉矶港的吞吐量有15%来自日本，进口最多的日本产品是汽车和汽车零部件。日产(Nissans)汽车就是通过洛杉矶港进入美国市场的，而长滩港是丰田汽车的一个进口码头。
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."
长滩港发言人阿特·黄(Art Wong)说：“我听说丰田公司已经开始减少对美国的汽车出口，甚至发往美国的货轮数量也可能减少。丰田汽车工厂地震之后很多都关闭了。他们现在重新开工，但产量肯定不及地震前的水平。”
The same seems to be true for auto parts. "All of the auto dealers here that rely on parts are telling us there has been a slowdown," Sanfield said.
日本汽车零部件进口也出现下滑。洛杉矶港发言人桑菲尔德说：“这里依赖日本部件的所有车行都对我们说，汽车零部件进口已经减少了。”
It is not just incoming cargo from Japan that is slowing down. Some outgoing shipments from the United States have also been disrupted.
不光是日本的进口产品出现了下降，美国对日本出口的部分物资也受到了影响。
"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.
加州洛布甜橙公司(Lobue Citrus)负责人乔·洛布(Joe Lobue)说：“地震灾难对大洋两岸的货运都造成了不小的影响，对加州农产品和冷藏农产品出口的影响尤其明显。”
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.
洛布30多年前在日本为公司出口打出了一片天空。他说，公司挑选、打包和出口的甜橙一般40%都是向日本发货。地震海啸以来，对日甜橙出口下降了10%到15%。
"Those sales are gone and it’s a quarter of a million dollars worth of exportable sales that we won’t see," he said.
洛布说：“公司对日出口下滑了不少，营业额损失25万美元。”
LoBue says the loss comes from a string of problems that started with cancellations in the first week after the earthquake.
洛布说，地震后的那个星期日本先是取消了订单，然后又出现了许多别的问题，让公司蒙受了损失。
Then there was the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
这以后，福岛核电站又发生了事故。
"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.
他说：“地震刚发生后，有些货轮转往日本其他港口，有些货轮干脆拒绝到日本卸货。”
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.
已经抵达日本的甜橙同样面临运输问题，比如没有足够的电力为甜橙冷藏保鲜。洛布说，日本还因为价格问题减少了加州甜橙的订购。他说：“在日本，进口产品眼下依然是奢侈品。他们也不清楚问题还要延续多久。我们希望秋天情况能够好转。”
That hope is shared by officials at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
洛杉矶港和长滩港的官员也希望日本情况能够好转。
Port officials say exports from the U.S. may increase in the form of lumber and equipment to help Japan rebuild after the earthquake.
官员说，美国对日本的木材和机械设备出口可能增加，帮助日本的震后重建工作。
"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.
长滩港发言人阿特·黄说：“今年对日贸易总量不知是否会真的下降，也许贸易下滑是暂时的，晚些时候会快速提升，今年的贸易额说不定没有减少，反而还可能增加。”
Port officials say it will be weeks if not months before they will know exactly how the earthquake in Japan has affected 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.
港口官员说，要了解地震对日本进出口造成的全面影响，可能还要再过几个星期、甚至几个月才能清楚。而美日之间的贸易若要恢复到地震之前的水平，需要的时间恐怕要更加漫长。 |