WASHINGTON: The Port of New York and New Jersey reported a drop in container traffic in September 2016 versus the year prior, according to numbers released Nov. 3. Loaded imports dropped 11.3% to 254,033 industry-standard 20-foot equivalent container units, or TEUs; while loaded exports fell 5.2% to 106,170 compared with September 2015. “The total decline in September 2016 volume from September 2015 was 12.2% and can be attributed primarily to the Hanjin bankruptcy and the COSCO-China Shipping merger,” said Lenis Rodrigues, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Hanjin Shipping unloaded 12% of its containers at the port in 2016, according to figures from Datamyne. The ocean carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in South Korea and the United States on Aug. 31. Through September, the largest port on the East Coast handled 2.38 million TEU loaded imports for the year, down 2.7% compared with the first nine months of 2015. Loaded exports between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 dropped 3.5% to 1.01 million.
Including empty imports or export containers, the port has handled 4.66 million TEUs, down 3.5% versus the same nine-month period last year. “[For us], 2015 was a record year with growth of more than 10%. A more typical year was 2014, and our year-to-date total is 8.6% higher than 2014,” Rodrigues said.
Meanwhile, the port also announced a $1.6 million federal grant to improve the barge program that transports containers between Brooklyn, New York, and Newark, New Jersey. Port officials said the barge moved 35,000 containers last year, resulting in 60,000 fewer trucks on the road. Money also will go to the creation of a training center and two simulators to teach members of the International Longshoremen’s Association on how to operate the newest generation of ship-to-shore and yard cranes.
