Original news was published on 09 December, 2014

THE port of Boston posted a 16.5 per cent November year-on-year increase in container volume to 18,371 TEU, while recording a year-to-date increase of 11 per cent to 197,936 TEU through at the Massport's Conley Terminal.

November was the fifth straight month of year-on-year gains, brought on by new by Evergreen and Hanjin calls on top of already-scheduled stops with the CKYHE Alliance.

Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) also increased its ship size on its northern Europe service, deploying ships as large as 8,000 TEU that now call at Boston.

Truck turn-times at Conley Terminal were kept to 30 minutes in October - and productivity was high, thanks in part to an agreement with International Longshoremen's Association, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce.

Boston pays ILA members for full shifts, even if they finish unloading and loading vessels early, said port director Deborah Hadden.

Ms Hadden said the port is marketing itself aggressively, playing up the fact that it experiences little to no congestion and New England shippers can get goods faster, and cheaper, if they ship directly through Boston rather than New York-New Jersey.

Shipping into the New York-New Jersey port complex means paying up to US$1,000 per load to truck it north, she said.

Imports at the port of Boston were up 17.6 per cent year on year to 8,911 TEU in November with exports rising 18.2 per cent to 6,701 TEU. Empties totalled 2,759 TEU, up a 9.3 per cent during the same period.

*NEWS SOURCE