The new year brought a raft of records to the Port of Long Beach, where January container volumes reached an all-time high for the month.

 

Workers moved 657,830 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) through the harbor in January, 12.9 percent more than the same month last year. The total marks the first time Long Beach has surpassed 600,000 containers in the month of January. The quick start to 2018 comes after officials recently announced that 2017 was the busiest year in the Port’s 107-year history, reaching 7.54 million TEUs.

 

Imports hit a record 324,656 TEUs in January, 8.6 percent higher than last year. Exports rose 1.9 percent, to 120,503 TEUs. Because imports outnumber exports, empty containers sent overseas (to be refilled with goods for import) spiked 28.5 percent, to 212,671 TEUs.

 

In recent years, as cargo patterns have adapted to industry and economic changes, January has been a reliable growth month for the Port of Long Beach. Last year, container traffic increased almost 9 percent compared to January 2016, a month when cargo swelled 25 percent from January 2015.

A significant increase in the quantity of dry bulk cargo moving through Port Milwaukee pushed annual cargo volumes past the previous year’s totals according to unaudited numbers shared with the Board of Harbor Commissioners on Thursday.  Categories such as limestone, salt, and other dry bulk material each posted double digit percentage increases during 2017 contributing to the strong annual performance.

 

A total of 2.57 million metric tons of cargo passed through Port Milwaukee in calendar year 2017. More than three-quarters of that total was handled at the port’s public docks.  This past year the number of vessel visits also rose to 301, an increase of 9.9%.

 

"Port Milwaukee is making improvements to our infrastructure, and working closely with our tenants.  Those investments and relationships set the stage for even more cargo transiting our docks in the future," Port Milwaukee Director Paul Vornholt said. "Most importantly, we focus on adding value for local employers by reducing their transportation costs."

 

 

During 2017, the Port of New York and New Jersey handled 6,710,817 TEUs, a 5.3 percent increase over the 6,371,720 TEUs handled in 2015 when the previous annual record was established. The record volumes allowed the port to maintain its position as the third largest port in the United States with 15.4 percent market share and the busiest on the East Coast with a 32 percent market share. Even with the increase in cargo volume since 2015, the particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions created by port activities have gone down by more than 14 percent – equivalent to removing at least 104,000 passenger cars off the street per year – due to the port’s Clean Air Strategy environmental programs.

 

To view all of the 2017 port cargo data, click here.

 

The record cargo volumes will help build on the significant jobs and economic activity already supported by port activities. According to a recent study using 2016 data prepared by the New York Shipping Association, the port supports 400,000 jobs, a 35 percent increase over the 296,000 jobs reported four years ago. The port also is responsible for $25.7 billion in personal income and $64.8 billion in business income.

 

In addition to regional economic growth, perhaps the biggest driving force in achieving the new cargo volume record was the June 2017 completion of the Bayonne Bridge Navigational Clearance Project. The project raised the clearance under the crossing from 151 feet to 215 feet, allowing ships as large as 18,000 TEUs to travel under it to port facilities in Newark, Elizabeth and Staten Island. Following the raising of the bridge, one of the port’s major shipping lines – CMA CGM – began a new service to the port using primarily 14,000 TEU vessels.

 

Since the project’s completion, the port has set new monthly records for cargo volume activity every month through the remainder of the year.

The Jan. 3 blizzard impacted the movement of freight well beyond the Norfolk Harbor: there was  disruption and delay to logistics and supply chains, rail and truck movement, vessel calls and to the overall flow of intermodal traffic along the U.S. East Coast and in parts of the Midwest. A  lighter, mid-month snow also had an impact on the flow of cargo.

 

In January, the port processed 220,534 TEUs, which is 3.5 percent, or 7,982 fewer units when compared with last January. Cargo volumes at Virginia Inland Port (VIP) and Richmond Marine Terminal (RMT) were up 5 and 4 percent, respectively. Truck volume was up 2 percent while rail and barge traffic fell 9 and 5 percent, respectively.

 

On a fiscal year basis VIP volume is up 4.6 percent; RMT, up 12 percent; total barge traffic up 8 percent; truck volume up 8 percent; vehicle units up 16 percent; breakbulk tonnage up 2 percent; and rail volume down 1 percent.