The port of Baltimore handled a record number of cargo containers in October.
Dockworkers unloaded 46,827 containers in October, the most recent number available, breaking the record of 44,095 set in July 2013, the Maryland Port Administration said Wednesday.
The high monthly volume is part of a trend, the port administration said. Container traffic for 2014 is up 10.3 percent from 2013, a record-breaking year.
"The port of Baltimore is one of the most efficient seaports in the United States," said James J. White, the administration's executive director. "Our vessel production is among the highest for U.S. ports."
White attributed the success in part to Baltimore's preparations to receive larger vessels as a new era of mega-shipping emerges, including by investing in huge new cranes for loading and unloading.
"Our new 50-foot-deep container berth and four supersized cranes have placed us in a very competitive position to attract some of the largest ships in the world," White said. "The future of the port of Baltimore has never looked brighter for the thousands of men and women who work on our marine terminals to support their families."
The container record comes as other ports on the East Coast have struggled with congestion and amid a local contract standoff between Baltimore's largest dockworkers union and port employers.
The dispute has lingered since members of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 333 went on strike in October 2013 for three days, stopping work on local contract cargo but also on containers, which are covered under a separate, master contract for dockworkers from Maine to Texas.
The unrest has caused some shippers to become uneasy about Baltimore labor, fears that the new container record could help offset.
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