The Port of New Orleans announced Monday that the ports container gantry cranes, which are used by terminal operators to load and unload containers, were used 927.2 hours in March-a 25 percent increase over the same month a year ago. In just Q1 2011, usage was up more than 18 percent compared to 2010.
While the number twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU's) for March 2011 have not been calculated yet, TEU volumes totaled 81,987 for the first two months of the year, up 22.8 percent compared to the first two months of 2010.
According to Port of New Orleans President and CEO Gary LaGrange, "the Port of New Orleans is seeing upward trends in all of its container operations."