Traffic down at Port of Montreal

Traffic down at Port of Montreal    The Port of Montreal said in the first six months of the year it handled 619,721 TEUs of both full and empty containers, 14.6 percent fewer than during the same 2008 period.
   Total volume of all sorts of cargo fell 15 percent to 10.9 million tons during the first six months of 2009.
   The port authority said container traffic to and from the Mediterranean increased, with full TEUs to the region up 22 percent.
   Another bright spot was its grain terminal where it handled 1.2 million tons in the first six months, including marine, rail and truck traffic. It said marine traffic was up 31 percent.
   'The downturns we have experienced in containerized cargo and dry bulk such as iron, zinc and copper are due to difficulties in the manufacturing sectors of Ontario and the American Midwest, which were still being hit by the recession in the first fiscal half year,' said Sylvie Vachon, president and chief executive officer of the Montreal Port Authority, in a statement.