Despite a 3% drop in total TEUs in March, container volumes at Port Houston are set to reach 1 million TEUs earlier than ever before this year. The US port handled 934,031 TEUs in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 3% increase over the same period in the previous year.
Loaded export volumes at Port Houston reached 349,964 TEUs year-to-date, translating to an increase of 26% year-on-year. Additionally, empty import volumes also increased by 111% for the month compared to March 2022, as carriers reposition containers to Houston to meet the high demand for resin and petrochemical exports.
“We continue to see the softening of import demand across the US and in Houston as well, where loaded import container TEUs at Port Houston’s terminals were down 12% in March,” stated Roger Guenther, executive director at Port Houston.
Meanwhile, general cargo activity across Port Houston’s docks remains steady through March with total tonnage through the eight public terminals up 4% year to date, reaching 12,850,330 short tons.
