May 2015 was the busiest month in nearly four years at the Port of Oakland, according to newly released data. The port revealed June 15 that it handled 213,260 cargo containers last month, the most since it reported volume of 216,276 containers in August 2011.
The total volume of import, export and empty containers was up 3.8 percent last month from May 2014, according to the data, making it the third straight month of year-over-year volume increases reported in Oakland.
“We’re seeing steady improvement – especially in import cargo,” said the port’s Maritime Director, John Driscoll. “Our job now is to accelerate the momentum.”
Loaded import container volume increased 4.5 percent in May from the same period a year ago, according to port data. Shipments of empty containers, which were heading back to their origins in Asia, were up 20 percent. The empty repositioning, according to Oakland, indicates that ports are still rebalancing containers dislocated by wintertime trade slowdowns.
Despite the gains, however, the overall export volume declined 5.6 percent in May, the port said, with the decrease being attributed to a strong dollar which makes U.S. exports more expensive. Nevertheless, export volume of 79,890 containers was the most in Oakland since last October.
Monthly cargo statistics are available at the Port of Oakland’s website: www.portofoakland.com.
