Puget Sound container volumes on the rise

The Northwest Seaport Alliance handled 296,349 TEUs in July and nearly 2.1 million TEUs for the first seven months of 2015, up 8 percent and 4 percent, respectively.    The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), which consists of the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, handled 296,349 TEUs in July, an increase of 8 percent from July 2014.
   For the first seven months of 2015, the NWSA handled nearly 2.1 million TEUs, up 4 percent from the same period last year.
   Export containers increased nearly 6 percent year-to-date to 733,150 TEUs. The NWSA attributed the increase to a high number of empty containers being shipped back to Asia. Full export containers fell nearly 14 percent on the year due to a stronger U.S. dollar and weaker economies in Japan and China, NWSA said in a statement. The extreme temperatures in the Pacific Northwest have also hindered the state’s agricultural output.
   Year-to-date containerized imports at the ports grew 3 percent to 823,695 TEUs.
   The Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma officially formed the NWSA Aug. 4 in an attempt to strengthen the Puget Sound gateway and attract more cargo for the region.