THE Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) announced that its August 2023 container throughput totalled 242,700 TEU, down 13.5 per cent over August 2022 but grew 3.3 per cent compared to the previous month.

Full imports for the month decreased 19 per cent while full exports decreased 10.6 per cent but grew 15.4 per cent versus July 2023, reports London's Port Technology.

Year-over-year (YoY) comparisons continue to reflect the pandemic-driven conditions of 2022 and ongoing soft import demand relative to last year.

Total TEU declined 20.2 per cent year to date (YTD) to 1.87 million TEU, with full imports and exports declining 24.9 per cent and 5.1 per cent, respectively.

Domestic container volume decreased 0.3 per cent YTD 2023 compared to YTD 2022. Alaska volumes increased 2.7 per cent, and Hawaii volumes declined 13.3 per cent.

Other cargo numbers include breakbulk volume which decreased 8.7 per cent to 290,361 metric tonnes YTD.

As container rates have softened, traditional container cargo that had shifted to Ro-Ro during the height of the supply chain congestion is now transitioning back to container vessel service.