Red ribbon month at Port of New York/New Jersey

The Port of New York and New Jersey, which experienced the second busiest June ever for box volumes, was called by a 10,077-TEU containership at the GCT Bayonne Terminal.    The Port of New York and New Jersey handled 530,575 TEUs in June, a 5.7 percent decline from June 2015, which was the busiest June the port had ever experienced.
   Loaded import volumes in June of this year totaled 270,617 TEUs, while loaded export volumes reached 115,484 TEUs, year-over-year declines of 3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. The remaining containers were empties.
   In the first six months of the year, the port handled 3.04 million TEUs. Although this was a 1.7 percent decline from the corresponding period last year, it was still the second highest first six-month total on record. Containers loaded with imports accounted for 1.54 million TEUs, while containers loaded with exports accounted for 676,319 TEUs, year-over-year decreases of 2 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.
   However, automobile traffic in June rose year-over-year. During the month, the port handled 40,174 units, a 10.7 percent increase from June 2015.
   For the first half of the year, auto volumes rose to 245,765 units, up 8.7 percent from the first half of 2015.
   Despite declining container volumes, the port’s ExpressRail intermodal rail facilities continued to see increased volumes. In June they handled 46,560 containers of all sorts, a 1.9 percent increase over June 2015, while in the first six months, they handled 266,624 units, a 3.7 percent increase over the first half of 2015.
   The port released the statistics as South Korean ocean carrier Hyundai Merchant Marines brought a 10,077-TEU ship, the Hyundai Saturn, to the port’s GCT Bayonne Terminal on Friday, July 29.
   GCT Bayonne is unusual because it is the one large container terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey that can be reached without passing below the low slung Bayonne Bridge between Staten Island and New Jersey. The port authority is spending over $1 billion to raise the bridge so larger ships can pass beneath it and call other terminals in New York and New Jersey.
    According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the Hyundai Saturn is one of five ships Hyundai is contributing to the G6 Alliance’s NYX service. MOL is also contributing five 10,000-TEU ships. The NYX has a port rotation of Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Manzanillo (Panama), New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Manzanillo (Panama), Busan and Qingdao.