WASHINGTON: September container volumes at the Port of Virginia were strong , the third highest in 2017 after May, which broke the best-month-ever record, and August. The port’s terminals moved 237,816 containers as measured in standard 20-foot units, or TEUs, a gain of 8.2 percent from the same month last year.
Import-loaded TEUs rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier, while export-loaded units slipped 6.2 percent. Empty outbound TEUs were up 42.3 percent and empty inbound TEUs fell nearly 46 percent. “We are seeing continued growth in all of our trade lanes, good peak-season volume and anticipate a solid performance for the remainder of the year,” said John Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, in a statement. Rail-container volume in September was down 1.3 percent year-over-year, while truck-container volume for the month surged nearly 15 percent. To date this year, the port is on track for another strong finish. From January through September, total TEU volume was up 7.5 percent from the same period a year ago. For the same period, import-loaded TEUs were up 8.5 percent year-over-year.
