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Box throughput at NWSA ports continues to rise in August

TOTAL monthly volumes released by the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), which comprises ports of Seattle and Tacoma, show that container throughput improved 6 per cent last month over August 2016 numbers, while total year to date container volumes from January through August rose 5 per cent.

Full imports for August 2017 reached their highest level since 2010, increasing 1 per cent to 119,529 TEU compared to last year, while full exports were down 8 per cent to 76,614 TEU, according to NWSA, American Shipper reported.

The big gain last month was in empty exports, which, according to the NWSA, reached their highest volume since 2006 by growing 58 per cent during what was a peak season month for the ports.

Also in August, total domestic volumes - containers travelling to and from the non-contiguous US states of Alaska and Hawaii - increased 6 per cent compared to the same month last year, statistics show.

Alaska volumes, down 7 per cent year to date, are expected to end the year 8 per cent lower than in 2016 due to soft market conditions. Hawaii volumes through the Pacific Northwest are down 2 per cent year to date due to diversion to Southern California, according to the NWSA.

Through the first eight months of 2017, full import volumes are up 5 per cent to 922,886 TEU, the fourth-highest on record, NWSA said. Meanwhile, full YTD exports were down 1 per cent to 616,957 TEU. Total international container volumes, including empties, increased 9 per cent year over year to 1.96 million TEU, the highest YTD volume through August since 2007, according to the ports.

In other year to date cargo numbers: log volumes were up 101 per cent to 186,582 metric tonnes compared with the same period last year, driven by consistent demand from China; and breakbulk cargo volume was down 3 per cent to 125,030 metric tonnes year to date due to soft market conditions, NWSA said.