More ships called U.S. ports in 2010

More ships called U.S. ports in 2010    A U.S. Maritime Administration report released Tuesday showed a 13 percent increase in oceangoing ship calls at U.S. ports in 2010.
   Vessel Calls Snapshot, 2010 showed 7,579 oceangoing ships made 62,747 calls at U.S. ports in 2010. That reverses a downward trend over several years, as calls totaled 64,997 in 2006, 63,804 in 2007, 60,578 in 2008 and 55,560 in 2009.
   The report said vessel sizes have increased in recent years, as the average size of containerships when measured in TEU grew 18.6 percent from 2005 to 2010.
   Calls by ships too large to fit through the Panama Canal are increasing, as ships carrying more than 5,000 TEUs accounted for 26 percent of containership calls in 2010 compared to 12 percent in 2005.
   From 2005 to 2010, average size increases were 7 percent for all vessels, 16.2 percent for dry bulkers, and 3.7 percent for roll-on/roll-off ships. Average tanker size was down 1.3 percent.
   U.S.-flag vessels made 7,200 or 11 percent of all calls, and 5,040 of those calls were made by so-called Jones Act vessels, U.S. flag ships that are eligible to trade in the domestic cabotage trades.