The Northwest Seaport Alliance handled 276,407 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August 2020, a 13.8% decline compared to August 2019. While down 3.9% year-over-year, full imports reached their highest monthly volume for the year as August marked the beginning of the peak shipping season. 

The economic fallout from COVID-19 continues to disrupt supply chains across the country and around the world. The NWSA gateway experienced a total of 58 blank sailings through August, equaling the number for all of 2019. Shipping lines have announced a total of three additional blank sailings for the gateway through October.

Total overall container volumes for the year are down 17.6% compared to 2019. The NWSA handled a total of 2,111,059 TEUs year to date. Loaded imports declined 16.2%, while full exports decreased 13.2%.

In August, the NWSA welcomed YM Triumph, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation's newest 11,000-TEU ship. The vessel, on its maiden voyage to North America, is the largest vessel to call at Husky Terminal since it underwent a major pier reconfiguration. YM Triumph, along with its sister ship YM Truth, joined THE Alliance’s trans-Pacific PN2 service in July.

For our domestic trade, our total year-to-date volumes dropped 6.4%. Alaska volumes declined 7.3%, partially reflected by the cruise season cancellations. Hawaii volumes were down 2%. In late August, Matson consolidated operations for its Hawaii and Alaska services from Seattle to Tacoma.

Other cargo stats:

• Breakbulk cargo volumes were down 0.5% year over year to 180,007 metric tons.
• Auto volumes year to date were 91,874 units, down 30% year over year.

View the August 2020 cargo reports:

• Container volumes – August 2020
• Cargo statistics – August 2020