The Port of Montreal reported a 6.1 percent increase in container traffic for 2010, outpacing growth in dry and liquid bulk cargoes. Speaking at the 172nd annual ceremony honoring the first ship to enter the port in the new year, Sylvie Vachon, president and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority, said preliminary figures for all of 2010 show containerized volume of 1.32 million 20-foot-equivalent units, up 6.1 percent from 2009. Tonnage carried in those containers increased 6.2 percent to almost 12 million tons. Container traffic accounts for more than half the port's volume, with about half of those containers destined for or originating from the United States. Overall volume should be up 4.4 percent for the year, Vachon said, with dry bulk rising 5.6 percent to 5.6 million metric tons, and liquid bulk up 3.2 percent to 8.0 million tons. The Journal of Commerce Online |