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Two recent news items from Tacoma’s News Tribune:
Port of Tacoma reports best year since 2008
A new report from the Port of Tacoma shows container traffic up nearly 16 percent last year over 2011 to 1.711 million container units.
That container volume was pumped up by the move of the Grand Alliance container shipping combine to the port from Seattle in July. Four container shipping lines, NYK, Hapag Lloyd, OOCL and Zim, share shipping capacity in service from Asia to the West Coast. Two other associated shipping services also moved to Tacoma along with the Grand Alliance.
Container traffic wasn’t the only bright spot in the port’s year-end total. Breakbulk cargo, cargo too large or two oddly-shaped to fit in standard shipping containers, jumped by 68 percent last year, the port said.
Not all segments of the port’s business showed healthy increases. The port’s auto shipment business declined by 9 percent. The port’s grain export business also fell in 2012 by 19 percent because of the Midwest drought made less grain available for export last year. Log exports also dropped 35 percent because of slackening demand in Asia.
More here
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Port of Seattle Commissioner Rob Holland has resigned his position effective March 15, according to Port spokesman Jason Kelly. Holland, who joined the Port in 2010, was the subject of a Seattle Times story Sunday about the problems he ran into during his first term, including misusing a Port credit card, personal financial problems, and sometimes difficult relationships with staff and colleagues.
A news release from the Port said Holland is leaving “to pursue other professional opportunities.”
As a commissioner, Holland worked to attract minority and women-owned businesses to the airport and, on a trip to Korea, participated in negotiations to retain Hanjin, one of the Port’s largest shipping lines, at the Port.
More at the Seattle Times
A looming driver shortage, rate increases and equipment dislocations are the main challenges that cargo interests will encounter over the next two years as the U.S. economic recovery continues, transportation experts told a Journal of Commerce Webcast recently.
The U.S. economy will continue to expand at a moderate pace with some downside risk associated with debt problems at home and in the European Union, said Mario Moreno, Journal of Commerce economist.
U.S. gross domestic product should expand 2 percent in 2013, with containerized imports increasing about 2.4 percent. If that growth is achieved, the total import volume of 17.8 million 20-foot container units will be the highest since 2007, he said.
More at the Journal of Commerce
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