The Port of Oakland registered container volume growth in February, surpassing the 2023 volume for the same month last year.
Full imports rose for the fourth month in a row, recording a 32.1 per cent increase, moving 76,734 TEU in February 2024 through Oakland, compared to 58,073 TEU in February 2023.
Full exports were up by 24.2 per cent, moving 69,242 TEU in February 2024, in contrast to 55,279 TEU in February 2023. This marks the third month in a row that exports have increased, after reaching their highest monthly total since May 2022.
In the first two months of this year, combined full TEU are up 18.1 per cent over the first two months of 2023.
Empty imports dropped 9.8 per cent, with 13,142 TEU passing through port facilities in February 2024, in contrast to 17,299 TEU in February 2023.
Empty exports also dropped 7.2 per cent, handling 23,633 TEU in February 2024, compared to 38,014 TEU in February 2023, recording the seventh straight month of decline. This indicates that more containers are returning to Asia loaded with US goods.
READ: Port of Oakland closes 2023 at 2 million TEU
“The trends we saw in previous months have continued in February,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes.
“Consumer demand remains strong in Northern California & Rocky Mountain states region for imports and in Asia for the region’s exports. We believe that cargo volume will continue to modestly grow for the rest of the year, reversing some of the declines we saw in 2022 and 2023.”
More recently, the Port of Oakland ranked first among all US ports in international refrigerated export TEU for seven consecutive years.
