North American ports handled 44.4 million TEUs in 2004

North American ports handled 44.4 million TEUs in 2004    The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) reported that North American ports handled 44.4 million TEUs in 2004, an 8.4 percent increase over the 41 million TEUs handled in 2003.
   The AAPA said that nearly 70 of the 73 responding North American ports reported year-to-year increases.
   Mexican ports experienced the highest growth, handling 1.9 million TEUs, up 13.0 percent from 1.7 million TEUs reported in 2003. Ports in Canada achieved an 8.57 percent increase to 3.9 million TEUs from 3.6 million TEUs. Throughput at U.S. ports increased 8.2 percent to 38.6 million TEUs from 35.6 million TEUs.
   AAPA includes ports in Guam, Hawaii and Puerto Rico in its U.S. ports survey.
   The top five North American ports, accounting for 56 percent of the total U.S. container traffic in 2004, were: Los Angeles (7.32 million TEUs, up 2.4 percent); Long Beach (5.77 million TEUs, up 24.1 percent); New York-New Jersey (4.47 million TEUs, up 10.1 percent); Oakland (2.04 million TEUs, up 6.2 percent); and Charleston (1.86 million TEUs, up 10.2 percent).
   In a separate development, the AAPA said the 2006 fiscal year budget needs to be raised from $150 million to $400 million for seaport security to keep security initiatives on track with Maritime Transportation Security Act.
   In a letter sent to Judd Gregg, chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee, AAPA also requested that the administration maintain a separate Port Security Grant program within the Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP). The administration has proposed eliminating the PSG program and lumping it into a larger Transportation Infrastructure
Protection Program (TIPP).
   “Ports are quite different from other programs within the proposed TIPP, and AAPA is concerned that merging them would greatly dilute the PSG program,” said Kurt Nagle, president and chief executive officer of the AAPA.