Montreal box traffic up 11% in first half

Montreal box traffic up 11% in first half    Container traffic increased 11 percent to about 584,000 TEUs in the first six months of the year at the port of Montreal, as the Canadian port predicts it will reach a record throughput for the whole year.
   Container traffic handled at Montreal totaled 5.2 million tons in the first six months of the year, an increase of 8 percent over the same period in 2003.
   The port also said June was its best month ever, with 110,256 TEUs containers handled.
   “If the economy shows any strength at all between now and the end of the year — and we really have no reason to believe otherwise — container traffic will certainly enjoy another record year,” said Dominic J. Taddeo, president of the port authority of Montreal.
   He also warned that international trade is in the midst of “booming growth,” which “is placing a great deal of pressure on infrastructures and intermodal transportation facilities throughout North America.”
   Total traffic handled at the port of Montreal increased 16 percent to 11 million tons in the first six months of 2004, led by fast-growing volumes of liquid bulk and grain traffic.
   Liquid bulk traffic increased 33 percent to 2.9 million tons. Grain volumes soared 66 percent to 723,000 tons, thanks to higher Canadian wheat exports. Other dry bulk cargoes totaled 1.9 million tons for the first six months, representing an increase of 6 percent.
   The only traffic that decreased in the first half of the year was non-containerized general cargo, which fell 10 percent to 224,000 tons.