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August a Good Month for Marine Cargo by Staff Portland Business Journal, September 22, 2009

The Port of Portland in August recorded its second-best month for marine cargo this year.

But despite the improved monthly numbers, the port remains more than 35 percent off last year's totals, and all category segments remain down by double-digits.

The 983,507 tons of marine cargo shipped last month were around 2,000 tons shy of January numbers -- the year's highest so far -- and a sizable improvement over the 637,000 tons shipped a month earlier.

Container volumes are down almost 27 percent from last year, but the nearly 17,000 containers shipped last month is an increase of more than 3,000 from July.

Grain volumes also improved slightly, to 387,000 tons, but remains down 13 percent on the year. The port handled nearly 20,500 auto units last month, but is down nearly 50 percent from last year.

Faring the worst is breakbulk and mineral bulk cargo, which are down 63 percent and 57 percent respectively so far this year.