The Northwest Seaport Alliance - the partnership between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma - handled 308,682 TEUs last month, according to new numbers released Oct. 20.
While the ports handled 11.1 percent fewer shipments overall from the same time a year ago (347,278 TEUs in September 2019), the September numbers represent the ports’ best month of the year. Previous months in 2020 don’t surpass 300,000 TEUs, according to the statistics.
And despite imports falling 6.8 percent year over year, the ports saw their biggest monthly volumes for loaded imports since September 2019 with retailers replenishing goods in preparation for the holiday shopping season, according to NWSA.
Like other ports, the NWSA has experienced the economic effects of the pandemic, with 59 canceled sailing this year.
So far, the gateway has moved more than 2.4 million TEUs in overall volumes for 2020, a decrease of about 16.8 percent from the same time period in 2019.
