The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s (NWSA) TEU volume grew by 19% year-on-year (YoY) in June 2021, driven by the increase in imports, which spiked by 28.6% YoY.
The NWSA said volumes improved 18.9% to 1,860,174 TEU, with full imports growing 31.1% and full exports declining 11.2%.
Domestic volumes grew 10.8%, and Alaska volumes saw a 6.6% increase while Hawaii volumes grew 30.6%.
Containerised exports rose by 16.8% in June 2021, but this was driven entirely by a 75.7% jump in empty container traffic, which are in high demand in China.
In June 2021, the NWSA welcomed four ZPMC ship-to-shore (STS) cranes as part of efforts to improve container handling efficiency and capacity.
Along with other major US West Coast gateways, the NWSA has seen huge spikes in container volume since the middle of 2020, when Chinese factories reopened and resumed exports after lockdown restrictions were eased.
This has caused issues across the US supply chain, with many calling for the Federal Government to do more to alleviate pressure.
