Port Metro Vancouver, the third busiest seaport on the North
American West Coast, moved a total of 2.71 million TEUs in calendar year 2012,
an 8.2 percent increase from 2011’s 2.5 million TEUs.
Of the 2.71 million, the vast majority, 2.39 were full
containerized imports and exports, while the rest were empties. The port saw
substantial increases in both the number of containers imported and exported
during the year, including a rise of about 10 percent in full and empty container
imports.
Over 1.3 million full TEUs were imported during 2012
according to port data, while about 102,000 were exported, representing
increases of 9.3 and 18.5 percent, respectively, over 2011 volumes.
Exports also were healthy throughout the year, with about 1
million TEUs being shipped out of Metro Vancouver terminals over the 12-month
period, a nearly five percent jump. The number of empty containers exported
jumped about 14 percent however, climbing from about 186,700 in 2011 to roughly
213,000 last year.
By tonnage, Metro Vancouver is behind only the port of Los
Angeles and Long Beach when it comes to annual container volume for West Coast
ports. It’s also the fourth busiest seaport in North America, after LA, Long
Beach and New York-New Jersey.
