The Port of New York-New Jersey’s TEU traffic increased by 16% year-on-year (YoY) in January 2021, demonstrating what the Port Authority described as “resilience” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the Port Authority said it moved 721,284 TEU in January as its container segment was the only area of its operations to grow.
Passenger traffic across its operations fell; in the case of airport volume, it did so by 73% YoY. The Port Authority has been severely affected by the pandemic and previously estimated that the related volume drops will result in a revenue loss of approximately $3 billion for the 24-month period beginning in March 2020.
In June 2020 it applied for support from the Municipal Liquidity Facility, a new program created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), to stablise operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has had a substantial effect on US ports, with the largest West Coast gateways suffering first from a collapse in trade and then from congestion as exports from China resumed in the summer of 2020.
This has raised suggestions that shippers and carriers may divert calls from the Pacific to the East Coast to prevent subsequent delays and cut costs.
