For just the third time in its history, the Seattle Harbor handled more than two million 20-foot equivalent units in one year during 2011, according to newly-released Port of Seattle data.
A total of 2.03 million containers moving through the harbor last year, which was down almost 108,000 TEUs from the record 2.1 million shipped the year before, but was still good enough to be the third-largest recorded volume in the port’s history.
The second-busiest year in the port’s history was in 2005, when 2.08 million TEUs passed through.
Linda Styrk, the port’s managing director attributed the near-record year to several factors.
“We have the capacity and the facilities to handle 10,000 or more TEU container ships, we have excellent intermodal infrastructure and regional distribution facilities, and we continue to work with our customers collaboratively to keep the business here,” she said.
Exports increased in 2011, the port also saw the addition of new shipping lines, services, and trade lanes while empty container positioning remained strong.
According to Seattle’s data, the port was the sixth largest US port – and seventh in North America – in terms of TEUs during 2011; the largest port in Washington state in 2011 in terms TEUs and dollar value; and the ninth largest US port in 2011 in terms of dollar value.