Port Everglades has narrow lead in Fla. box volumes

PortMiami’s box volume for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 was slightly below that handled at nearby Port Everglades.    Port Everglades edged out PortMiami for the title of largest container port in Florida based on recently released statistics for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
   PortMiami’s container volumes grew 2 percent year-over-year to 1.03 million TEUs during the fiscal year, while Port Everglades experienced a 2 percent dip to 1.04 million TEUs compared to 1.06 million TEUs a year prior, according to data released by each port.
   Container traffic slowed at both ports along with global trade and West Coast ports recaptured cargo that temporarily shifted to the East Coast to avoid labor-related congestion. In fiscal year 2015, the number of standard shipping units moved at Port Everglades grew 5 percent, while PortMiami enjoyed a 14 percent hike in business to 1 million TEUs.
   Port Everglades has exceeded 1 million TEUs for three consecutive fiscal years. Empty containers accounted for more than 28 percent of its volumes. The port authority posted its best September ever with 90,641 TEUs compared to 80,550 TEUs in September 2015. Over the past five years, Port Everglades’ container volumes have soared almost 18 percent.
   PortMiami reported a 7.8 percent year-over-year decline in box volumes to 79,340 TEUs in September. But for the first nine months of the calendar year, container volumes ticked up 1.4 percent to 781,180 TEUs.
   On a calendar year basis so far, Port Everglades’ box volumes have fallen 2.5 percent from the corresponding period a year prior to 777,870 TEUs.
   PortMiami and Port Everglades, because of their proximity and shared reliance on the Florida East Coast Railway service, are increasingly cooperating to attract shippers to use South Florida as an import and export gateway.
   In Northern Florida, the Port of Jacksonville reported it set a fiscal year record for container volumes at 968,279 TEUs, a 5.8 percent increase from a year prior, as it tries to punch into the 1 million-TEU club. The previous JaxPort record was 936,972 TEUs set in 2014.
   JaxPort officials attributed the container gains to a 19 percent jump in trade with Asia, with 336,791 containers moved compared to 283,164 the previous year. The growth of existing and new services at the Blount Island Marine Terminal, including the recent addition of a 2M Alliance service – comprised of Maersk Line and MSC – contributed to the growth. Asian box volumes grew steadily since the port began receiving vessels from Asia via the Panama Canal and now comprise 35 percent of the port’s total container business. 
  Container volume year-to-date at JaxPort was 736,032 TEUs.
   JaxPort could take the lead next year as Florida’s leading container port when Crowley Liner Services relocates its Puerto Rican loop from its nearby private terminal on the St. Johns River to JaxPort’s Talleyrand Marine Terminal in January.
   All three ports have major, ongoing infrastructure campaigns to better handle big ships and add capacity, including harbor deepening and widening projects, the addition of larger ship-to-shore cranes, and other terminal upgrades.
   In related news, NYK Line on Monday launched its new monthly “Magellan Straits Express” South America roll-on/roll-off service from Port Everglades. The first vessel is destined for the Port of Santos, Brazil. The loop will also call ports in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama Costa Rica and Nicaragua.