Port of Oakland February loaded import volume surged 89.7 percent

California’s third largest port is reporting similar surges in ocean cargo volumes recently seen in Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Full import containers through the Port of Oakland leaped 89.7 percent in February 2016 compared to the same month last year, demonstrating that the gateway continues its cargo recovery from the contract dispute extending to 2015. Export volume for loaded containers jumped up 37 percent this February from a year ago, said port spokesmen.

This recovery is especially impressive, say analysts, as Oakland has been working to relocate ships in the wake of Outer Harbor Terminals LLC’s closing last month.

The port attributed part of the huge increase in container traffic to a couple of factors:

• The strength of the US dollar, making it easier for American consumers to purchase products that are imported
• With a labor contract in place, one expects to see container volumes for imports and exports return to established levels (prior to the drawn-out contract negotiations)

“It’s good to see that our cargo volume for both imports and exports has jumped up again,” said John C. Driscoll, the Port of Oakland’s Maritime Director. “This is further evidence that we have regained the cargo that temporarily left our port a year ago.”

Oakland said it handled the equivalent of 70,620 20-foot loaded import containers in February. That was 33,484 more than the import volume for February 2015 and 11,705 more than the import total in February 2014, when contract issues were not impacting volume.

The total container volume (fulls and empties) in February was 188,139 TEUs (one TEU is the same as one, 20-foot container), a 54.2 percent increase from the year before.