Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Oakland Monthly Imports Up 8.7 Percent

By Mark Edward Nero

November’s containerized import volume at the Port of Oakland jumped 8.7 percent from the same month a year ago, the port reported Dec. 11. It was the eighth such increase at the port in the past nine months.

The port speculated that healthy consumer demand might have been behind November’s import increase. Containerized trade volume typically slows at year-end as retailers complete holiday inventory buildups.

Despite the encouraging import volumes however, total container volume – imports, exports and empty containers – declined 0.3 percent last month compared to November 2014, according to port data.

The drop was cased in part by a whopping 24.3 percent decline in the number of empty containers imported during the month. The number of full containers exported dropped also month-over-month, but only 1.5 percent compared to November 2014.

The export volume decline, according to the port is attributed in part to weaker demand in China for US goods.

The port said that its import volume for the first 11 months of 2015 is up 0.4 percent from last year, and termed the performance significant in light of a nearly 40 percent volume decline last winter.

“We’re finishing the year much stronger than we started,” Maritime Director John Driscoll said. “Our goal now is to keep the momentum up heading into 2016.”

Complete 2015 cargo statistics for the port are available at http://portofoakland.com/maritime/containerstats.aspx.