A more than 13 percent jump in empty container imports wasn’t enough to counterbalance year-over-year declines in full container imports and exports at the Port of Oakland in March, as the port saw an overall five percent volume decline compared with the same month in 2012.
Oakland terminals imported 29,311 TEUs during March 2013, a 13.5 percent jump over the same month in 2012. However, there were declines in all the other major categories the port monitors, including full imports and exports, as well as empty exports.
The steepest year-over-year decline was in full imports: Oakland saw 53,532 TEUs in March, a 14.8 percent decline from the same month last year. Empty exports were down 7.3 percent, to 15,809, and full exports dropped to 87,965, a four percent decrease from March 2012.
The numbers added up to a grand total of 186, 617 TEUs last month, a 5.4 percent year-over-year decline.
But despite the down month, Oakland is actually slightly ahead of last year’s year-to-date volumes. During the first three months of 2013, the port saw 566,796 TEUs, 1.2 percent improvement over the same time period in 2012.
The growth can be attributed in part to imports of empty containers; in addition to March’s 13.5 percent jump, there was a 6.1 percent increase the month before, which has helped the port’s year-to-date empty imports volume climb to 6.3 percent.
