Port Metro Vancouver, Canada’s largest seaport, saw a total
of 195,103 TEUs in March 2013, a drop from the 217,162 TEUs that port terminals
saw during the same month in 2012, according to newly released data.
Of the containers traveling through the port last month, the
vast majority, 177,562, were full, with about 93,100 of them being exported and
84,390 being imports. Empties accounted for 17,542 TEUs during the month, with
9,300 of those being inbound and more than 8,200 being outbound. In March 2012,
Metro Vancouver moved almost 200,000 full containers and about 17,100 empties.
The year-over-year decrease in full container traffic can be
attributed in part to the Lunar New Year holiday, which affects production in
many Asian countries that export to western North America. Compared to 2012,
the holiday celebration started later this year and the effects were pushed to
March, while last year’s holiday slowed trade in February 2012.
But despite the slow month, Metro Vancouver is still ahead
of last year’s pace for container movement. So far in 2013, the port has moved
642,959 TEUs, up from roughly 627,000 TEUs during the same time period in 2012.
The volumes make it the third busiest port on the North
American West Coast, behind Los Angeles and Long Beach, which saw totals of 1.78
million and 1.55 million TEUs respectively, during the same first three months
of the year.
