The month of May played out as a virtual duplicate of the previous month for container volumes at the two major Puget Sound ports in Washington, with the Port of Seattle posting total container volume increases near 60 percent over May 2009 and Tacoma continuing its run of 21 straight months of container traffic declines.
Officials at the Port of Seattle report that 198,175 TEUs moved through the port in the month of May, a 57.4 percent increase over May 2009. Total loaded inbound box volume at the port also rose dramatically, increasing 89.9 percent over the year-ago period to 85,237 TEUs. Total loaded outbound box volumes also climbed 38.3 percent for the month compared to May 2009, with the port handling 46,971 TEUs.
Farther south in Puget Sound, the Port of Tacoma handled a total of 125,527 TEUs in May, a 13 percent drop compared to May 2009. The port also handled 40,362 TEUs of loaded outbound boxes, a 11.3 percent decline over the year-ago period. Total loaded outbound box volume moving through Tacoma during May also declined, with 27,155 TEUs handled--a 27.7 percent drop compared to May 2009.