Posted on November 21, 2017
By Christopher Dinsmore, The Baltimore Sun
The port of Baltimore set another record for cargo volume, handling more than half a million more tons of cargo in the first nine months of the year than it ever had before.
The Maryland Port Administration reported that its public marine terminals imported and exported just over 8 million tons of general cargo from January to September, up from just under 7.5 million in the same period last year.
The growth was driven by an 11 percent increase in container volume.
While general cargo tonnage is up 7.4 percent through September this year, it surged 14.5 percent in the July-to-September quarter — the start of the peak holiday shipping season — compared to 2016. The port administration said that was a larger increase than several competing ports.
While smaller than its rivals in New York and Norfolk, Va., the port of Baltimore was North America’s fourth fastest-growing port in North America in 2016, with cargo growth of 9.8 percent, according to the Journal of Commerce.
The Baltimore port is also the nation’s busiest for cars and farm and construction equipment.
Source: The Baltimore Sun
