Port of Oakland to stage major address

Port of Oakland Executive Director Chris Lytle will share his vision for 2016 and beyond at the annual “State of the Port of Oakland” luncheon sponsored by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and Women in Logistics this Thursday.

On the cutting edge of global logistics technology, the Port of Oakland last month was among the first U.S. calls for the world’s largest container ship, the CMA CGA Benjamin Franklin.  By adapting to serve new and larger container ships, which are economically and environmentally efficient, the Port is ensuring it will remain a competitive destination for west coast cargo.

As we reported late last year, the Port of Oakland is also determined to become a logistical hub for California’s exporters.

Since we carried that story, containerized import volume at the Port of Oakland in 2015 was essentially unchanged from 2014. The port said imports declined just 0.2 percent after dropping nearly 40 percent last January and February. 

The import recovery indicates that cargo diverted during a waterfront labor impasse last winter has returned, the Port said. “This was no small achievement given the way the year started,” said Maritime Director John Driscoll.

Oakland import volume plummeted in early 2015 during a West Coast contract dispute between dockworkers and waterfront employers. Since then, Oakland import volume has increased in eight of the past 10 months.

Overall cargo volume – imports, exports and empty containers – decreased 4.9 percent in 2015, the Port said. It attributed the decline to an 11.5 percent drop in containerized exports. That was primarily the result of continued strength in the U.S. dollar, which makes American goods more costly overseas.

Last month’s import volume decreased 6.3 percent from the same period a year ago. That was not unexpected, the port said. A year ago, December import volumes spiked due to extraordinary cargo diversions from congested Southern California ports.