PORT of Brisbane saw a sizeable decrease in total trade volumes in December, driven by a decline in bulk exports. However, there was an uptick in container throughput.
In December 2021, the port handled a total of 2.4 million tonnes of trade, including both containerised and non-containerised cargo. This was a decrease of 8% on the same month in 2020.
While imports were up by 7% to 1.5 million tonnes, exports saw a significant fall over the period.
Total trade exported from Brisbane in December came to 799,115 tonnes, a whopping 30% decrease on the same month in 2020.
This decrease in bulk exports was driven largely by a big decrease in coal exports. In the last month of 2021, the port exported 49,843 tonnes of coal, down from 404,607 tonnes in December 2020 – a decrease of 88%.
Meanwhile, the container trade at Brisbane was on the up.
In December, 131,898 TEU crossed the wharves. This is an increase of 5% on December 2020. However, it is a decrease of 7% on November 2021 (142,288 TEU).
Containerised imports for the month were reported to be 63,024 TEU, an increase of 2.5% on the same month in 2020.
Outside of “import other” with 26,800 TEU, the biggest containerised import commodity in December 2021 was household items (8898 TEU). This was followed by building products (6910 TEU), electrical equipment (6219 TEU) and empty containers (4936 TEU).
Containerised exports for December increased 3% on the previous year to 62,150 TEU.
As usual, the biggest containerised export was fresh Queensland air, with empties accounting for 37,628 TEU of exports for the month.
