“While ship arrivals at the container facilities and in the Turning Basin were essentially flat between January of this year and last year, barge traffic was up a stout 30% for the first month of the year,” Dreyer said. “Nevertheless, TEU volumes were up 5% in January while unit counts were up 4%. Container tonnage was up a strong 7%. “Put simply, we had the same number of ships arriving between years, but each ship was moving substantially more cargo,” he said.
Steel started the year well with 243,000 tonnes as compared to 154,000 tonnes in January of 2010: a 58% increase. Dreyer said other commodities also showed nice gains for the month, with an overall increase in general cargo of more than 21%. Container revenue was up 8%, reflecting the growth in TEUs for the month. Turning Basin revenue was up 24% in January, directly in line with the amount of steel handled this year over last.