Volumes on the North America East Coast continue to grow pointing to a more permanent shift of some cargo volume from West Coast ports.

Sea-Intelligence said the Y/Y laden inbound growth in 2022-Q3 was between 4%-11%, and the annualized growth was between 7%-10%.

Total handling volumes also exhibited a similar growth trend, albeit shifted slightly downwards.

 Source: Sea-Intelligence

 Source: Sea-Intelligence

“While North America West Coast port volumes have started to contract sharply in 2022-Q3 (both Y/Y and on an annualised basis compared to 2019), the same is not the case for the North America East Coast ports,” said Alan Murphy, CEO, Sea-Intelligence.

The report noted that for East Coast ports, there is also an increase in the laden export volumes, growing Y/Y for four consecutive months in September, which shows that the carriers are starting to clear out the laden export backlog a little more.

 Source: Sea-Intelligence

“That said, empty exports are still growing at a rate of 17%-20% Y/Y when annualized against 2019,” it added.