The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Kobe in western Japan fell 1.1 percent in the first half of 2013 from a year earlier to about 1.019 million 20-foot-foot equivalent units, according to preliminary figures released by the Kobe municipal government.
In the January-June period, the Port of Kobe exported 545,592 TEUs, a drop of 2.3 percent year-over-year, while it imported 473,208 TEUs, a year-over-year increase of 0.3 percent.
Kobe is Japan’s fourth-largest container port after Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. Among the nation’s five major international ports, which also include the Port of Osaka, the Port of Kobe became the last to release cargo figures for the January-June period.
The five major Japanese international ports reported mixed foreign trade container cargo results for the first half of this year. The ports of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka posted rises of 0.3 percent, 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, while the Port of Yokohama posted a decline of 6.7 percent.
In terms of volume, the Port of Kobe handled 24.418 million tons of cargo, including both containerized and uncontainerized cargo, in foreign trade in the first half of this year, down 1.6 percent from a year earlier. Exports totaled 10.770 million tons, down 4.8 percent, while imports totaled 13.648 million tons, up 1.0 percent.
In trade with the United States, the Port of Kobe handled 3.752 million tons of cargo, including both containerized and uncontainerized cargo, in the January-June period, up 0.9 percent from a year earlier. Exports increased 2.1 percent to 1.357 million tons, while imports inched up 0.3 percent to 2.395 million tons.
The Journal of Commerce
Login
