The Gulf Coast ports have received lots of attention lately and rightfully so. The ports along the Gulf Coast provided a pressure relief valve of sorts, though they suffered with congestion throughout the pandemic as well.
What separates the Gulf Coast ports from the foremost East and West Coast ports is the importance that bulk cargo and the economic sector as a complete play in port volume. At Port Houston, over a 3rd of all tonnage cleared in 2022 was noncontainerized.
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Port Houston, the country’s fifth-largest container port and largest port for bulk cargo, reported strong imports in February after a difficult January, despite the challenges of limited transits through the Panama Canal. In February, general cargo imports increased by 49% month over month, but that is essentially as a result of a soft January. Yr so far, imported general cargo tonnage is down 10% in comparison with 2023.
Steel imports, which represented nearly 13% of total tonnage in February, were up 24% m/m in February and 6% yr over yr. Like the final cargo, tonnage for steel imports yr so far is down 25%, highlighting how soft January was.
General cargo and steel imports represented 38.8% of total tonnage, up from 36% of total tonnage in 2022. Yr so far, tonnage of general cargo and steel imports is in step with the 2022 values, nevertheless it can have been exacerbated by the softness in January, while container imports were strong. From 2018 through 2022, general cargo and bulk tonnage was relatively stable as a percentage of overall imports, within the mid-30s. As expected, 2020 was probably the most difficult, as consumer freight took precedence over more industrial sectors.
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The port is priceless, not just for the imports of those commodities, but for the exports from Port Houston. February was a difficult month for exports of general cargo and steel. Tonnage of steel was down 96% m/m in February and 89% y/y. That was an acceleration from the declines in January as steel exports were down 70.6% y/y.
Export tonnage for general cargo in February was down 4% m/m but up 34% y/y, thanks partly to a robust January by which export tonnage was up 16.3% y/y.
The container side of the port operation has shown substantial growth since 2018. Total containerized imports were 15% higher in 2022 than in 2018, and exports were up a convincing 59%.
The expansion in containerized trade at Port Houston highlights the shift that occurred in using ports closer to consumption centers and avoiding the potential for disruption as a result of labor.
In February, Port Houston reported that total twenty-foot equivalent unit volumes were up 13% m/m and were 20% higher than in 2023. The expansion in TEU volume y/y is aided by the timing of the Lunar Recent Yr, but to this point in 2024, the expansion has shown that Panama Canal challenges and the Red Sea conflict have had little or no impact on container volumes so so far. Yr-to-date total container volumes at Port Houston are up 12% in comparison with 2023.
Loaded TEU imports totaled 166,849 in February, up 8% m/m and 18% higher than they were in 2023. Yr-to-date loaded TEU imports are 10% higher than they were last yr.
Container exports had an excellent stronger February, rising 17% m/m, up 24% in comparison with 2023. Yr-to-date total container exports are up 17% y/y. Loaded TEU exports totaled 145,766 TEUs, matching the whole TEU exports, up 17% m/m. Loaded TEU exports were 25% higher than they were in February 2023.
As labor disruptions turn out to be more possible with the continuing negotiations between labor unions and ports from Maine to Texas intensifying throughout the following few months, there might be significant impacts to East Coast port throughput.
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