The Port of New York and New Jersey, the busiest cargo gateway on the U.S. East Coast and third largest in the country, continues to see its container volumes rise in the early part of 2018.
The port handled 572,576 TEUs in March, a 12.7 percent year-over-year increase and a record for the month, according to the most recent data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).
The March growth was driven by increases across all container cargo categories.
Throughput of loaded imports jumped 15.5 percent to 288,462 TEUs for the month, while laden export volumes grew 14.3 percent to 132,105 TEUs. Exports of empty containers climbed 6.1 percent to 150,438 TEUs compared with March 2017, and import empties ticked up just 1.6 percent to 1,571 TEUs.
ExpressRail, the port authority’s ship-to-rail system serving New York and New Jersey marine terminals, also set a new monthly volume record with 44,761 container lifts, 18.4 percent more than in the same month a year ago.
In addition to containerized cargo, the port posted a 5.8 percent increase in vehicle volumes to 49,206 units.
Through the first three months of 2018, the Port of New York and New Jersey saw its container throughput rise 9.6 percent year-over-year to 1.68 million TEUs, keeping it on pace to surpass the record 6.71 million TEUs it handled for all of 2017.
On a quarterly basis, import loads at the port are up 12.2 percent to 872,103 TEUs and loaded exports are up 8.3 percent to 361,700 TEUs. Empty container exports also have grown 4.5 percent to 442,268 TEUs, while empty imports have slipped 6 percent to 4,290 TEUs.
Year-to-date rail volumes are up 17.8 percent to 150,796 lifts, and auto volumes are up 4 percent to 142,167 units compared with the same 2017 period.