(The following article by Paul T. Rosynsky was posted on the Oakland Tribune website on December 2.)
OAKLAND, Calif. — A crush of Chinese imports coupled with congestion at Southern California ports has the Port of Oakland sailing into its fourth straight month of increased container activity.
The equivalent of 190,000 20-foot-long shipping containers passed through the port complex in October, a 13 percent increase from October of last year.
The main source of the growth is an 18 percent increase in international cargo at the port since January and a 35 percent increase of international imports this October compared with last year.
Since July, the port has seen a 28 percent increase in imported cargo, a key indicator of a port’s financial success.
“That is a striking number,” said Gay Joseph, manager of the port’s maritime financial and administrative services. “This is good news.”
The port has long been the West Coast’s leader in exports as many of Central California’s agricultural products move through Oakland.
But the Port of Oakland’s efforts to increase rail access and expand maritime terminals — and with Southern California congestion — have more shipping companies looking at Oakland as a first port of call.
That bodes well for Oakland because most shipping lines unload most of their containers at the first port they reach. And because a port is paid based on the amount of containers moved through its docks, the more containers moved, the more money made.
According to statistics released by the port Monday, the organization has seen a 6 percent increase in amount of containers moved through the port compared with what was forecast.
The increases, however, have yet to result in more revenue for the port because of the complicated formula used to charge shipping lines for using the port. But port officials said Monday they expect those numbers to rise.
“We’ll reach our budget levels,” said Wilson Lacy, the port’s maritime director.
Despite the record pace of container movement through Oakland, port officials said they had hoped more cargo would be moving through the docks.
They pointed to railroads as primary problems for Oakland, as both the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and Union Pacific are focusing their attention on Southern California ports.