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NEW YORK and New Jersey harbours handled record volumes of containers in fiscal 2006, with throughput rising 6.4 per cent over 2005 to 5,092,806 TEU.
The west coast big ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles also reported strong growth in combined container traffic, rising more than 12 per cent year on year in the first two months of the year to 2.5 million TEU.
The east coast ports' total general cargo volume increased to 31,194,421 tons in 2006, up from 28,132,497 tons in 2005. Within this total, imports came to 22,126,272 tons, a 9.3 per cent increase over 2005. Exports grew by 14.8 per cent to 9,068,149 tons in 2006.
New York-New Jersey cargo dollar value rose 13 per cent in 2006 to reach US$149 billion led by continued growth in trade with the Far East, north Europe and southeast Asia.
ExpressRail, which operates on-dock rail terminals in New Jersey handled 338,882 containers, 11.8 per cent more than in 2005.
The strong performance combined with robust growth projections are prompting authorities at the port to launch a US$2 billion investment plan for seaports in the next 10 years. This includes infrastructure upgrades for marine terminal facilities and off-port roads and railways to improve the flow of cargo.
In addition to investments in the 50-foot harbour deepening project and the ExpressRail on-dock rail facilities, the 10-year budget includes funds to upgrade roads. Investments also are planned to develop an Intelligent Transportation System for the port and to improve inland access.
On the west coast, throughput jumped 35 per cent in Los Angeles in February from a year earlier and reflected continued strong growth in exports, which rose 23 per cent for the month, a statement from port authorities said.
January figures showed total throughput reaching 691,602 TEU in Los Angeles, an 11.5 per cent increase from January 2006. In Long Beach, growth has been weaker, rising 2.1 per cent in January and five per cent in February.
Since the start of the July 1 fiscal year, Los Angeles has handled an extra 900,000 TEU, or 18 per cent more containers than during the same period a year earlier.
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