Vancouver Container Imports Hit 20-Month High

Containerized imports at Canada’s Port Metro Vancouver grew 41.4 percent in May to the highest level in 20 months, according to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

Containerized Ocean Trade - Port Metro Vancouver, B.C.: Find more information at By The Numbers.

The expansion in May over the same month a year ago marked Vancouver’s sharpest growth since February, when the Winter Olympics helped push a 43 percent surge in goods coming into the port.

But the May expansion came amid a broader improvement in shipping demand that helped Vancouver to its busiest month for container trade since the economic downturn.

Containerized imports grew 9.3 percent above the level Vancouver reported in April, and the 108,666 laden imported TEUs were the most Canada’s largest port has handled since September 2008.

Export trade also reached its highest level in a year even though containerized exports fell on a year-over-year basis 4.4 percent, the fifth straight monthly decline compared to last year. But the exports grew on a sequential basis 10.3 percent and the 85,548 TEUs marked the highest number Vancouver has seen since May 2009.