The Prince Rupert Port Authority released its traffic stats for May 2012 on June 5, and the figures show that growth at Fairview Terminal is continuing.
In May the terminal handled 46,043 TEUs, up 56.2 per cent from the 29,480 handled last May. The number of imported TEUs was up 41.8 per cent, from 19,062 last May to 27,024 this May, and the number of exported TEUs was up 82.6 per cent from 10,418 last year to 19,019 this year.
When it comes to year-to-date numbers, the growth is also substantial. So far this year Fairview Terminal has handled 219,692 TEUs, up over 100,000 from the previous year for an increase of 87.1 per cent. The number of containers being imported is up 80.5 per cent and sits at 124,873 while the number of containers being exported has almost doubled from 48,229 in the first five months of last year to 94,818 in the first five months of 2012.
Ridley Terminals continues to rebound from a slow start to the year and in May handled 1.18 million tonnes compared to 958,964 tonnes last May, a difference of 23.1 per cent. SO far this year the tonnage handled at RTI is up seven per cent, sitting at 4.29 million tonnes compared to 4.01 million tonnes last year.
Prince Rupert Grain was down 5.1 per cent in May, falling from 515,320 tonnes to 488,989 this May, and so far this year is down 0.2 per cent, sitting at 2.228 million tonnes compared to 2.23 million tonnes last year.
Log exports through the Prince Rupert Harbour continue to drop, falling 42.2 per cent this May compared to last May and 56.2 per cent so far this year - from 220,568 in 2011 to 96,589 tonnes in 2012.
Overall though, traffic through the Port of Prince Rupert is up compared to last May and so far this year. In May there were 2.16 million tonnes moved compared 1.82 million tonnes last May, a difference of 18.4 per cent, and so far this year there have been 8.81 million tonnes moved compared to 7.65 million tonnes, a difference of 15.3 per cent.
In terms of passenger traffic heading into the summer months, there were 17.4 per cent fewer domestic passengers/vehicle travelers and 15.6 per cent fewer passenger/vehicle travelers from the Alaska Marine Highway. Those numbers so far this year are down 3.4 per cent and 19.7 per cent respectively.
The one cruise ship in May brought 1,362 passengers, a far cry from the 7,311 passengers that arrived last May.