The Prince Rupert Port Authority released their month-end results for July late last week, and the numbers show tonnage through Fairview Terminal is well above last year.
While there was only a slight increase in tonnage handled this July compared to last July, rising 5.5 per cent from 46,433.3 TEUs to 48,977.5 TEUs, so far this year there has been 62 per cent more traffic through Fairview Terminal, rising from 198,217 TEUs to 321,123 TEUs through the first seven months of the year.
Imports were up 6.4 per cent year-to-year, while so far the number of imports is up 58.8 per cent and is at 182,452.7 TEUs. Exports were up 4.4 per cent year-to-year, although the number of loaded TEUs shipped this July was down 12.2 per cent compared to last July. So far this year the export of loaded containers is up 42.8 per cent at 74,225.8 TEUs, while the percentage is at 66.4 per cent when the movement of empty containers is taken into account.
Ridley Terminals had a strong month compared to last July, almost doubling the amount of coal being shipped. Last July the terminal moved 527,541 tonnes compared to 1.04 million tonnes this year for an increase of 97.1 per cent. So far this year the terminal is up 21.9 per cent and has moved over 6.7 million tonnes of product compared to 5.5 million tonnes last year.
The strong year being experienced by Fairview Terminal and Ridley Terminals, however, isn't shared by Prince Rupert Grain, which saw its tonnage fall by 42.4 per cent compared to last July. Overall this year the terminal is down 10 per cent through the first eight months of the 2012.
Also down is the movement of logs through the harbour. While it was up 38.3 per cent compared to last July, the total tonnage for the harbour is down 37.6 per cent.
Regardless, traffic through the Port of Prince Rupert is on track to break another record. So far this year the port has exceeded 12.8 million tonnes compared to 10.8 million tonnes last year, and this July saw 1.7 million tonnes pass through Prince Rupert compared to 1.3 million tonnes last year.
In terms of passenger traffic, both BC Ferries and Alaska Ferries are down slightly compared to 2011, dropping 5.7 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively so far in 2012.