October was the biggest month ever for loaded exports at Port Houston, up 6% compared to last October, according to the company's release. Port Houston’s loaded exports are up 10% year-to-date, reaching 1,151,638 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) through October 2023. These exports are primarily resins and chemicals.
Port Houston is the top resins port in the US as well as home to North America’s largest petrochemical cluster. Loaded import volumes at Port Houston in October were down 4% compared to last October and are down 7% for the year as compared to last year.
Compared to pre-pandemic volumes, however, total container imports are up 32% through October compared to the same period in 2019. Total container volumes for the first ten months of this year total 3,201,958 TEUs – a slight decrease of 4% compared to last year’s record volumes.
Total tonnage through Port Houston is down 7% year-to-date compared to 2022, at 42,421,735 short tons. Steel volumes are down 13% this year through October. Auto import units increased this month, up 50% in October 2023 compared to October 2022.