WASHINGTON PORTS: The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which encompasses the Washington ports of Seattle and Tacoma, joined other major ocean ports on the West Coast in posting healthy gains in container cargo volume in July.
Full import containers at NWSA were up 8.3% over last July, and overall container volume was up 7.9%, though much of that was due to the large quantity of empty containers being shipped back to Asia, port officials said.
Full export containers were down nearly 11% from last July, a decline that reflects the stronger U.S. dollar and weak demand from major Asian economies, as well as drought conditions in the West that have hurt agricultural output. Bulk grain exports through NWSA were also down almost 12% from last July.
For the year to date, the ports of Seattle and Tacoma have moved almost 2.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, a common measure of container volumes. Full import containers are up 6.9% for 2015, full exports are down 14% and empty export containers are up a 84% compared with the same period last year. The two ports formally launched their alliance earlier this month.
The West Coast’s other major ports saw gains while major East Coast ports saw growth slowing in import containers in July, likely the result of cargo routes moving back to the Pacific ports after a temporary shift brought on by labor strife at the West Coast ports earlier this year.
Following similar ups and downs at other West Coast ports this year, import container volumes at Seattle and Tacoma were down in January and February at the height of labor contract-related congestion, then surged in March when the ports got moving again. April and May were off slightly, and June and July have seen strong gains over last year.
Long Beach and Oakland, Calif., both saw gains in July import volumes, with Long Beach setting a port record for total containers moved in a single month. Cargo volumes at the Port of Los Angeles were off in July by 3.5%, but taken together with Long Beach’s stellar performance, the San Pedro Bay port complex—the nation’s largest cargo gateway, where the adjacent ports of L.A. and Long Beach sit—saw combined import volume up 5.4% from last July.
