Port of Vancouver tonnage down 5% from 2000

VANCOUVER (Feb. 14, 2002) — Port of Vancouver cargo totaled 72.8 million tonnes in 2001, down 5% from the previous year’s record tonnage, the Vancouver Port Authority reported yesterday.

Total container traffic decreased 1% to 1.15 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units). Total inbound TEUs grew 1% to 551,195 TEUs. However, full import container traffic grew a healthy 7% to 494,229 TEUs.

The Port of Vancouver continued to increase its market share throughout 2001 and ranks number one in the Pacific Northwest and
No. 3 on the North American West Coast for full foreign containers. Total export TEUs, meanwhile, dipped 4% to 595,368 with full exports decreasing 2% to 539,896 TEUs. Continued soft demand in Asia accounted for the decline.

The biggest export declines were in forest products, down 13% to 7.2 million tonnes. Shipments of coal, the Port of Vancouver’s single largest commodity, were down 1% from last year to 27.2
million tonnes.