Seattle Port up, Tacoma, Portland box volumes down

US northwest Pacific ports are showing signs of a mixed recovery, with the most northerly Port of Seattle seeing its June liftings swell 49 per cent to 190,000 TEU, driven by a 93 per cent jump in loaded imports.

Export growth was at 10 per cent, while domestic traffic fell by 3.5 per cent, reports London's Containerisation International.

Container throughput in the first six months of the year rose by 45 per cent compare to the first half of 2009 to one million TEU, with imports up by 67 per cent.

Its Puget Sound neighbour, the Port of Tacoma, saw its June throughput shrink 3.4 per cent to 147,000 TEU, albeit an improvement on the double-digit declines of earlier months.

Tacoma year-to-date liftings decreased 12 per cent to 704,000 TEU and this follows two years of contraction in which 2008 traffic declined three per cent and last year's throughput fell 17 per cent to 1.5 million TEU. Domestic volumes, however, were up five per cent in the six months to June, but international traffic is suffering with exports declining by up to 29 per cent, the report said.

"To some extent the port has suffered from carriers consolidating port calls and terminal operations to nearby Seattle. For instance, Maersk Line exited sister company AMP Terminal's Tacoma facility in favour of CMA CGM's Seattle dock last year, while Japanese carrier NYK withdrew from a new terminal deal altogether," it said.

In the first six months of the year the small Port of Portland reported a 4.8 per cent decrease in volumes compared to the same period last year at 85,000 TEU "but prospects are looking up following May's signing of a new lease agreement with International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) of the Philippines to operate the port's only box terminal," the report added.
(Source:www.schednet.com)