The Port of Tokyo handled 353,773 TEUs of foreign-trade containers in March, a fall of 0.8 per cent year on year, according to preliminary figures released by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG)’s Bureau of Port and Harbor.
Loaded containers accounted for 258,864 TEUs of the total, down 5 per cent, while empty containers rose 13 per cent to 94,909 TEUs.
On the export side, Tokyo handled 73,634 TEUs of loaded containers, up 4.6 per cent, and 93,840 TEUs of empty containers, up 13.6 per cent.
Imports told a different story, with loaded containers falling 8.3 per cent to 185,230 TEUs and empty containers down 21.8 per cent to 1,069 TEUs.
Domestic container volumes totalled 43,974 TEUs in March, down 23.5 per cent year on year. Combining foreign and domestic trade, loaded containers reached 277,086 TEUs, down 5.7 per cent, while empty containers edged up 0.6 per cent to 120,660 TEUs.
READ: Port of Tokyo posts modest TEU growth in January
For the first quarter of the year (January–March), Tokyo moved 750,188 TEUs of loaded containers, down 0.4 per cent, and 276,773 TEUs of empty containers, up 7.1 per cent, across exports and imports combined.
Export volumes for the quarter comprised 187,753 TEUs of loaded containers, up 1.5 per cent, and 274,404 TEUs of empty containers, up 8.1 per cent. Imports totalled 562,435 TEUs of loaded containers, down 1 per cent, alongside a sharp 47.6 per cent drop in empty container imports to 2,369 TEUs.
Domestic containers for the quarter stood at 52,142 TEUs loaded, down 6.2 per cent, and 74,464 TEUs empty, down 13.7 per cent.
Across all categories, Tokyo handled 802,330 TEUs of loaded containers in the first quarter, down 0.8 per cent year on year, and 351,237 TEUs of empty containers, up 1.9 per cent.
