NWSA’s November container volumes up nearly 7 percent
The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s total monthly container volumes for November reached 319,242 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 6.7 percent increase over the same month last year.
Import volumes were up 8.9 percent at 134,909 TEUs, compared to November 2017, as shippers continue to send cargo in anticipation of higher tariffs. At 130,503 TEUs, export volumes were up 3.5 percent from the prior year volumes. Total international container volumes for the month rose 6.2 percent year over year at 265,411 TEUs.
In November, SSA Marine’s Terminal 18 surpassed 1 million TEUs in yearly container volume. The historic milestone marks the first time a single marine terminal in Washington state handled a million TEUs in a year. T-18 is on track to top 1.1 million TEUs by the end of 2018. SSA Marine improved productivity in collaboration with ILWU Local 19 to begin continuous vessel operations and invested in rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs) to increase both reliability and productivity in handling containers.
November also included the arrival of Evergreen’s Thalassa Axia, the largest vessel to call our South Harbor. Evergreen is upsizing four of the six vessels on the TPS service at least through the first quarter of 2019. These larger ships will provide additional capacity for import and export customers during peak shipping season as three 14,000-TEU vessels and one 11,000-TEU vessel enter the service.
Recording the largest gain for 2018, total domestic volumes for November increased 9.4 percent to 53,831 TEUs compared to November 2017. Alaska’s year-to-date volumes were down 3.5 percent due to soft market conditions. Hawaii volumes through the Pacific Northwest dipped 0.8 percent year to date.
Total year-to-date container volumes grew 1.7 percent.
Other cargo highlights:
- Breakbulk cargo volume was up 20.5 percent year to date to 228,837 metric tons.
- Auto volume was down 8.1 percent year to date to 119,503 units.
View the November 2018 cargo reports: