Container business jumps 56% at Prince Rupert

Canadian port picked up market share from congested U.S. West Coast ports.    Container volume at the Canadian port of Prince Rupert soared 56.6 percent to 55,941 TEUs in February versus February 2014, ostensibly due to cargo diversion from U.S. West Coast ports that were jammed up due to labor turmoil. 
   For the first two months of the year, Prince Rupert has handled 37.4 percent more cargo than the same period a year ago. During the height of the U.S. port slowdown in January, Prince Rupert’s container business picked up 23 percent year-over-year, while traffic at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, and Seattle/Tacoma dropped 22.8 percent, 18.8 percent, 32 percent and 13 percent, respectively. 
   Several major companies have publicly indicated they were re-routing some cargo through Prince Rupert to avoid the bottlenecks at U.S. West Coast ports as productivity plummeted in the midst of collective bargaining for a new longshoremen’s contract.
   In February, the number of loaded shipping units at the British Columbia port increased 40.6 percent to 45,056 TEUs, while empty boxes were up 197 percent to 10,885, reflecting ocean carriers desire to quickly flip boxes in short supply and get them back to Asia for the next shipment, rather than sending them inland to return later with a less lucrative export load. Loaded import TEUs at the port were up 41.73 percent to 32,212 TEUs, while loaded export TEUs were increased 32 percent to 12,844 TEUs.
   Prince Rupert is a mid-size player in the container market. Last year it processed 618,167 TEUs, a 15 percent increase from 2013, but still less than a U.S. port like Baltimore. By comparison, Port Metro Vancouver, also on Canada’s West Coast, handled 2.9 million TEUs in 2014. Prince Rupert’s growth is significant, however, considering its Fairview container terminal is less than eight years old.