Port Traffic Metrics: Georgia, Los Angeles, Oakland

Georgia: August trade heats up in Brunswick, Savannah

 
Vessel operations at the Port of Brunswick resumed at 8 a.m. Thursday in the wake of Hurricane Irma. By Friday, crews were busy serving three Ro/Ro vessels - the Dover Highway, Onyx Ace and WWL Tiger.
Photo/Georgia Ports Authority

Auto and container volumes experienced substantial gains last month at Georgia Ports Authority’s marine terminals in Brunswick and Savannah.

Colonel's Island Terminal in Brunswick moved 53,675 units of ro/ro, a 15.3 percent increase compared to August 2016.

At Savannah’s Garden City complex, container throughput reached an August high of 348,297 TEUs, a 5.3 percent increase from year and just short of the monthly record, 350,105 TEUs in May 2017.

GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch attributed recent growth, in part, to a strengthening economy and retail customers' preparations for the holiday season, as well as larger cargo exchanges from the post-Panamax vessels now transiting the expanded Panama Canal.

"The growth we're experiencing in Savannah and Brunswick demonstrates that the logistics market has chosen Georgia's deepwater ports as must-call gateways for trade," Mr. Lynch said. "Better road and rail connections, unmatched terminal efficiency, and the GPA's commitment to infrastructure investment means rock-solid reliability through our ports."

To accommodate growing customer demand in Brunswick, the GPA is adding auto processing space. In July 2016, Colonel's Island had 60,000 vehicle spaces. By October, the GPA will have added 30,000 new spaces, with plans to add another 60,000. The full expansion will bring Brunswick's total throughput capacity to 1.4 million vehicles annually.

Similarly, the GPA will increase Savannah's ship-to-shore container crane fleet to 36 within two years and double on-terminal rail lift capacity to 1 million containers per year by 2021.

Los Angeles Box Traffic - Record-Breaking August; Second-Best Month Ever

The Port of Los Angeles reports handling container volumes totaling 845,857 TEUs in August, an increase from last year of 6.1 percent.  That set a record for August and a monthly total second only to the November 2016 posting of 877,564 TEUs. Eight months into 2017, container throughput was 9 percent ahead of 2016, when the Port of Los Angeles handled a record-breaking 8.8 million TEUs.

"We are grateful to our terminal operators, labor force, supply chain stakeholders and our cargo owners for the record-breaking container volume trend we have been experiencing over the past 20 months," said Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. "We plan to build on this momentum and confidence by focusing on innovative new ways to improve efficiencies, including a first-of-its kind information portal system with GE Transportation that will be introduced at all of our container terminals in the coming months."

In detail, this Augusts data show year/on/year increases of 5.1 percent for inbound loads, 4.0 percent for outbound loads, and 9.2 percent for empty containers. The TEU count for the year through August totaled 6,127,209 TEUs, up from 5,620,400 TEUs in January-August 2016. Current and past data container counts for the Port of Los Angeles may be found here.

Port of Oakland Reports Busiest Month in The Past Year

The Port of Oakland this August experienced its busiest container traffic month in a year, with throughput totaling 212,692 TEUs. That was the most since August 2016 when the TEU count stood at 220,604.

Throughput for the year through August totaled 1,605,305 TEUs, a 1.6 percent increase compared to January-August 2016. The increase came despite a 12. 7 percent drop in the number of ship of calls – underscoring the growing size of container vessels regularly calling the Port of Oakland. For detailed monthly container statistics, please click here.