Oakland reports first-quarter container volume growth

The port’s throughput grew by 4.2 percent year-over-year in the first quarter and by 10.7 percent year-over-year in March.

   The Port of Oakland on Friday reported it handled 612,151 TEUs in the first quarter of 2019, which was a 4.2 percent growth in container volume compared to the first three months of 2018.
   The port’s March throughput increased by 10.7 percent year-over-year to 213,972 TEUs, including a 7.6 percent year-over-year boost of loaded exports to 88,202. The month was the port’s busiest of the first quarter, beating out January’s total of 212,494 TEUs.
   In the first quarter overall, the Port of Oakland handled 276,798 TEUs of imports, which included 226,584 TEUs of loaded imports. The port reported 74,714 TEUs of full imports in March, which was up nearly 4,000 TEUs from February but down more than 7,000 from January. It also reported 20,523 empty imports in March, which was over 6,000 TEUs more than February and more than 5,000 TEUs over January’s number. 
   “Though the import rally has calmed down, we are still seeing a strong consumer demand in Northern California and Western Nevada,” said the Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll. “The Bay Area’s strong consumer-based economy has helped the Port of Oakland absorb the impact of the weakening rally better than other ports.”
   The Port of Oakland’s loaded export number reached a 2019 high in March by about 13,000 TEUs, and its empty export total — 30,533 TEUs — was a first-quarter low by more than 3,000 TEUs.