Container volumes through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma
– collectively known as the Northwest Seaport
Alliance – are continuing to post
year-over-year gains. Container volumes at the ports grew nearly eight percent
last month compared to July 2014.
The ports collectively moved 296,349 TEUs in July, a 7.9
percent increase from the 274,593 containers moved in July 2014.
Through the first seven months of the year, the NWSA has
handled about 2.08 million TEUs, a four percent year-to-date increase over last
year’s 2.0 million.
Strong volumes of full import containers powered a three
percent year-to-date gain in containerized imports to 823,695 TEUs between
January and July. Export containers grew nearly six percent during the same
seven months to 733,150 TEUs, propelled by a high volume of empty containers
being sent back to Asia.
The news isn’t all good, however: full export containers
struggled in July, falling nearly 14 percent on the year, something that the
ports says is the result of a stronger US dollar and softening economies in
Japan and China.
Drought and extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest have
also challenged Washington state’s agricultural output.
In other year-to-date cargo news: auto imports jumped
nearly eight percent to 109,950 units at the ports, while breakbulk volumes
were down less than one percent to 162,090 metric tons.
Grain exports were down almost 12 percent to 3,690,251
metric tons.
More information about the ports’ current
and historical cargo volumes is available at https://www.nwseaportalliance.com/sites/default/files/July2015_ContainerVolumes.pdf
