The Northwest Seaport Alliance, a marine cargo operating partnership between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, has seen its March box volumes decline 2.5% to 330,906 TEUs, with full imports declining 11.7% and full exports declining 24.9% year-over-year.
Additionally, year-to-date volumes are up 0.5% to 901,234 TEUs, with full imports growing 1.2% and full exports declining 28.1%, while domestic volumes increased 1.1% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
“Continued strong consumer demand and retail inventory restocking during the quarter helped push Q1 2022 full imports at the NWSA to an all-time high,” said NWSA, which handled a record 365,088 TEUs of laden international imports in the first three months of the year.
“While fewer vessel calls in March led to a decline in full imports for the month, overall import demand remains strong,” added the port alliance.
On the other hand, the trend of declining loaded exports continued in March as ongoing supply chain congestion issues negatively impact capacity and equipment availability for the agricultural sector, according to NWSA.
