Port of Oakland experiences busiest month in 10 years

The Californian port said empty container volumes rose in July as shipping lines repositioned boxes to prepare for an anticipated uptick in peak-season cargo.    The Port of Oakland experienced its busiest month in the last 10 years in July, the port said Monday.
   During the month, the Californian port handled the equivalent of 223,619 TEUs, 8.8 percent more than in July 2015 and the most since it lifted 227,996 TEUs in August of 2006.
   The port handled 80,508 TEUs of loaded import containers and 77,573 TEUs of loaded export containers in July, year-over-year increases of 1 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
   Empty inbound container volumes surged 21.5 percent from July 2015 to 17,017 TEUs, while empty outbound container volumes skyrocketed 31.5 percent from last June to 48,521 TEUs.
   Empty container volumes rose as shipping lines repositioned boxes to prepare for an anticipated uptick in peak-season cargo, the port said, which added that cargo volumes were up across the board.
   “The numbers are encouraging and with holiday shipments set to commence, this could be the start of something good,” Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll said.
    Overall, the port is frequented by 31 fully cellular container services that connect it with ports outside of the U.S. West Coast, 22 of which connect the port to Asia, according to BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool.