This October, The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) recorded the strongest full load import and export container volumes for the month since 2012.
Year to date, imports for October rose to 117,665 TEUs from 106,236 TEUs seen in the same month last year, an increase of 11 percent.
In addition, October exports stood at 88,763 TEUs, against 76,315 TEUs recorded in the same period last year, increasing more than 16 percent.
Year to date, full imports are up 4 percent to 1,1 million TEUs, and full exports increased 13 percent to 802,343 TEUs.
The year’s total container volumes were essentially flat through October, down less than 1 percent to 2,963,157 TEUs, due to weak empty and domestic volumes.
Year to date, container cargo throughput rose by almost 6 percent to more than 22 million metric tons from 20.8 metric tons seen in the same period last year.
Furthermore, year to date breakbulk cargo volumes dropped by 28 percent to 152,075 metric tons from 210,300 metric tons recorded in the same period last year and were affected by the global downturn in agricultural, mining and construction equipment, and a strong U.S. dollar impact volumes, according to the NWSA.
Year to date, autos fell 10 percent to 139,108 units from 154,291 units handled in the same period last year because of production issues as well as supply chain shifts.
In the first ten months of this year, the NWSA recorded a total of 1,672 vessel calls, compared to 1,670 vessel calls in the ten-month period last year.