Thursday, December 20, 2012

Oakland Monthly Container Volumes Dip


The total volume of containers shipped through the Port of Oakland last month was about four-and-a-half percent lower than that of November 2011, therefore continuing the port’s yearlong rollercoaster of up and down monthly container volumes.

California’s third-busiest port saw a total of over 190,550 TEUs last month, a decrease of 4.6 percent from the number Oakland moved during the same month in 2011. It was the sixth month out of 11 so far during the calendar year that volumes were down one percent of more compared with the same month last year.

Oakland saw year-to-year declines in two of four cargo categories during November: full imports and full exports. Full imports fell 7.0 percent compared to November 2011, while full exports were down 8.5 percent. This was the fifth non-consecutive month out of the year that Oakland experienced declines in each category.

The news was better when it comes to empty TEUs, however: port terminals saw a mild 2.0 percent rise in empty containers imported last month and healthy 13.6 percent jump in the number of empty containers exported.

The shipment of empty containers through the port has been relatively healthy at Oakland, with the port seeing volume increases in seven of the first 11 months of the year.

For the calendar year-to-date, Oakland terminals have moved a grand total of 2.14 million TEUs, a drop of 0.2 percent from the same 11-month period in 2011.