Cargo Statistics: Baltimore, Houston, Mexico, Redwood City

 

The Hogan Administration today announced that 2017 was a record year of business for the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore’s state-owned public marine terminals.  Last year, the Port handled more containers and autos than any time in its history.  The Port also set a new record by handling 10.7 million tons of general cargo from its public marine terminals, the second consecutive year for more than 10 million tons of general cargo.  General cargo includes autos and light trucks, containers, roll on/roll off (farm, mining and construction equipment), forest products (rolled paper and wood pulp) and breakbulk cargo.

 

"There has been no better example of Maryland being open for business than the Port of Baltimore," said Governor Larry Hogan.  "Our administration will continue to make the necessary investments in the Port to help this vital asset grow and succeed.  As one of our leading economic engines, the Port generates good-paying, family-supporting jobs for tens of thousands of Marylanders, and will create even more jobs and economic activity as its cargo operation continues to expand."

 

INTERNATIONAL CARGO RECORDS OF KEY TARGETED COMMODITIES ESTABLISHED AT THE PORT OF BALTIMORE IN 2017:

• GENERAL CARGO: 10.7 million tons (up seven percent from 2016)
• CONTAINERS: 596,972 containers (up 11 percent from 2016)
• AUTOS/LIGHT TRUCKS (Public and Private Marine Terminals): 803,999 (Most in the U.S. for seventh consecutive year) Up 10 percent from 2016

RECENT SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THE PORT OF BALTIMORE:

• Named the fourth fastest-growing port in North America;
• Recognized for the third consecutive year as one of the most efficient U.S. container ports; 
• Purchased 70 acres of land near the Seagirt Marine Terminal to handle the increased container business and other cargos. This was the Port’s first new significant land purchase for cargo since 1987.

 

Port Houston business has grown consistently and solidly across all business lines, including achieving record-breaking performances and milestones in 2017. Highlights of the record-setting business and operational results for 2017 were announced today during the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority first meeting of the year.

 

"We are again on our way to another tremendous year of opportunity and growth at Port Houston," said Port Commission Chairman Janiece Longoria. 

 

Port Houston facilities reached the highest total tonnage in Port history of 38.3m tons, surpassing the previous record of 37.8m tons set in 2014. It was also a record-setting year for container business. Port Houston handled 2.46 Million TEU for 2017; the previous record was set in 2016 with a volume of 2.18m TEUs (nearly a 13% increase year over year). 

 

In his report to the commission, Executive Director Roger Guenther further detailed achievements in 2017, including a 99 percent uptime in reliability for 22 ship-to-shore cranes and extending gate hours for truckers, as well as success for its Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) #84 program. (http://porthouston.com/ftz/) 

 

With the strategic goal of providing infrastructure to meet demand, Guenther said the Port brought to substantial completion more than $200 million worth of construction contracts. Among the those projects were the completion of both Container Yard 6 North and South including gantry cranes at Bayport Container terminals. At Barbours Cut terminal, rehab work at Wharf 2 was completed and improvements were made at its east end, while three new super post-Panamax STS cranes were received.

 

 

Mexico’s General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine, the entity that administers the nation’s ports under the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT), released their preliminary annual report of cargo statistics for Mexican ports from January to December 2017. Last year, Mexican ports moved 307,641,698 million tons of cargo, including 178,254,487 tons of commercial cargo, 6,375,338 TEUs and 7,284,121 cruise passengers. These figures reflect increases of 3.5%, 6.8%, 12.2% and 13.3%, respectively, compared to 2016. Click on the "Learn More..." link below to read the complete pdf of the report in Spanish or click here for a short summary, also in pdf format. 

 

 

 

Cargo moving across the docks at the Port of Redwood City tonnage totaled a record first-half of the fiscal year with 1,213,042 metric tons, a 41 percent increase over the same period the prior fiscal year.

 

The Port's fiscal year is from July 1, 2017, to June 20, 2018. The record six-month tonnage is for the period ending December 31, 2017. 

 

Port Executive Director Mike Giari said the continuing construction boom in Redwood City and Silicon Valley is creating high demand for construction materials shipped to the Port, mostly from British Columbia. 

 

The mid-year tonnage of 1.2 million is only 600,000 tons from the Port's budget projection of 1.8 million tons for the entire fiscal year.  The Port is on pace to beat its record tonnage in modern times - 1,833,022 tons in 2006 and 1,908,172 tons in 2005.         

 

CEMEX led the banner period importing 985,528 metric tons of sand and other construction materials. Other bulk cargo, bauxite and gypsum, totaled 91,700 metric tons. Exports by Sims Metal of scrap iron metal totaled 135,800 metric tons.      

 

Total vessel calls for the six months were 79, up from 49 for the same period last year. These included 35 cargo ships, 27 barges, and 17 other vessels.