The Port of New York and New Jersey saw extremely high numbers of empty containers back this summer. However, it looks like that is improving. The Journal of Commerce (JOC) reports that empties dwelling on and off docks at the port are down 15 percent compared to their previous high this summer.
Back in July, the NY-NJ port expanded their operations to go into the evening on weekdays, as well as the weekend, in an attempt to improve operations at the port – though Port Director Beth Rooney stated that it was silent, even with those expanded hours.
In a previous blog, we mentioned that as of August 4th, there were around 210,000 empty containers – which was up nearly 70 percent through the first seven months of the year.
Now, after the threat of implementing penalty fees, the Port of NY-NJ has seen an increase in the removal of empty containers, which allows the port to handle more freight.
More Empties Being Swept
In September, the port of NY-NJ released more details of a potential long-dwelling empty fee that would have been implemented at the start of the year.
JOC reported that 9,218 long-dwelling empties were removed from the port during September, which was up from just 5,500 that were removed from the port in August.
There has been an import slowdown of sorts though, which has resulted in vessel capacity becoming freer, as carriers have been able to remove more empties.
A New Number One
Let’s hear it for New York…! In the month of August of this year, the Port of NY-NJ saw its busiest August ever, which moved them into the number one spot for busiest port in the U.S., outpacing the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. For the months of September and October the port of NY-NJ continued to outpace the port of LA-LB in total volumes coming through the port.
The port of NY-NJ continues to see massive amounts of volume come in. For the month of October, total volumes coming through the port were 792,548 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUS), the JOC reports. Much of this volume growth at the port of NY-NJ is due to importers moving their volumes from the USWC to the USEC or USGC.
Progress has been made, with the first week of November showing a weekly average of five ships at anchor – typically just a delay of over three days, data from the JOC shows.
Looking Ahead
Should you have any questions regarding this and how it could impact your shipments, please reach out to our team today. Additionally, we have our weekly market updates that can provide you with relevant freight news, updates, developments across the industry, and more.