THE Northwest Seaport Alliance, whose operations encompass the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, said container volumes rose 18 per cent in November against the same month in 2014 to 283,945 TEU, marking the ninth straight month of growth.

The alliance attributed the strong year-on-year increase in part to November 2014 being the first month of the US west coast port disruptions during the contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, reported American Shipper.

In the first 11 months of the year volumes handled by the two ports rose by 5.9 per cent against the previous year to 3,339,057 TEU. Within this total containerised cargo, exports were up 11 per cent to 1,209,562 TEU, while containerised imports rose five per cent to 1,322,486 TEU.