The Prince Rupert Port Authority continued to make big gains in cargo levels this September over last year, while ports in the US have seen their traffic dwindle over the past year.
With an investigation into about to get underway in that country into Prince Rupert’s competitiveness, more people will be watching these statistics closely over the next few months.
The total number of TEUs (average containers) coming in and out of the Port of Prince Rupert in September was 50.9 per cent higher than in September 2010, rising to 36,072.5 TEUs. This is up from August which saw 34,016.5 TEUs come through the city.
Prince Rupert’s import business is at the heart of the investigation by the Federal Maritime Commission in the US. It also made a major gain over last year, going up 39.7 per cent to 24,927 TEUs this September; up only about 200 TEUs from August.
The container port’s export business has also seen a impressive gain over last year. Exports rose in September by 41.9 per cent to 20,496.5 TEUs, which is an increase of close to 2,000 TEUs from the month before. The number of loaded containers being exported, though was up 84 per cent year to year.
The amount of logs being shipped out of the Prince Rupert harbour fell by 17.1 per cent when compared to the year before. 54,697 tonnes of logs moved through the city in September, over 11,000 less than a year before, but still more than last month which saw 44,560 tonnes of logs.
In August the only product being shipped out of the Prince Rupert Grain terminal was a massive 215,650 tonnes worth of wheat. This month much less grain was shipped from Ridley Island but it was a wider variety, including Barley, Canola, and Wheat. It was still much less than August, only 147,695 tonnes, but that was still a huge jump of 86.4 per cent more than September 2010.
Ridley Terminals Inc. hit a record high in August when the amount of Metallurgical Coal being sent from there was almost three times as much as they year before. In September things have evened off at 543,376 tonnes, which is only half of what was shipped the month previous. It was also less than September of last year, seeing a drop of 34 per cent.