Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

August cargo volume up 8 percent at Port of New York/New Jersey

Last month was the busiest August ever for the Port of New York and New Jersey, with imports driving gains, according to a port statement.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey handled nearly 330,000 TEUs, a 7.9 percent gain year-over-year. Imports were up 5.2 percent, a sign of increasing U.S. consumer demand.

"The U.S. dollar is definitely playing a role," said Cathy Robertson, a consultant with Logistics Trends and Insights in Atlanta who studies port traffic, to The Wall Street Journal. "I also think we may be seeing peak season come early."

Robertson told the WSJ that the strong numbers at

the Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest East Coast U.S. seaport, are a sign that a significant portion of traffic that the East Coast gained after a West Coast slowdown last year related to labor strife, has remained on the East Coast even after business on the West returned to normal.

The number of vehicles passing through the port rose 17.5 percent between August 2014 and August 2015, and the number of containers shipped using the port’s ExpressRail train system grew 5.9 percent compared with a year earlier, the Port Authority said.

For more of The Wall Street Journal story: www.wsj.com