Thursday, October 20, 2011

Tacoma Port Leads West Coast in Box Growth for September

The Port of Tacoma did what no other West Coast port could manage to accomplish in September – it increased its total cargo volumes over the same month last year.

The Puget Sound port turned in a 2.7 percent gain in total container volumes in September, staying in positive growth territory while ports in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Seattle were all down for the month.

Like the other major West Coast ports during September, Tacoma reported a drop in imports paired with sizable growth in exports.

Tacoma port officials reported handling a total of 143,563 TEUs in September, a 2.7 percent gain over the year-ago period.

On the import side, the port handled a total of 49,578 loaded inbound TEUs in September, a 0.3 percent drop from September 2010.

Export through the port grew a sizable 20.3 percent in September, with a total of 37,993 loaded outbound TEUs moved.

The port is down 2 percent for the calendar year-to-date, with a total of 349,372 TEUs handled since Jan. 1.