Young Brothers Ltd.’s interisland cargo volume finished 2016 at virtually the same level it began the year.
The state’s largest interisland cargo carrier said in a report due out today that volume inched up 0.1 percent from 2015, as only two of the six neighbor island ports showed increases.
“For the year, most ports were lower or flat against the previous year, reflecting a general lack of economic growth drivers,” Young Brothers Vice President Roy Catalani said in a statement. “The picture was similar for the fourth quarter.”
Each quarter was virtually flat from the year-earlier period as cargo shipments rose only 0.6 percent in both the first and second quarters and declined 0.6 percent in both the third and fourth quarters.
Young Brothers’ cargo volume has been up marginally in recent years, with gains of 1.1 percent in 2015, 0.5 percent in 2014 and
1.5 percent in 2013.
Agricultural shipments ended 2016 down 4 percent but were relatively strong in most ports during the final three months of the year.
Young Brothers, which is regulated by the state, tracks cargo volumes using a standard unit measurement called container/platform equivalents, or CPEs.
For the year, the volume of interisland cargo totaled 128,854 CPEs, compared with 128,751 CPEs in 2015. During the fourth quarter the volume of 31,593 CPEs was down from 31,773 in the year-earlier quarter.
Cargo volume in 2016 rose at two neighbor island ports and fell at four others due to an uneven mix of construction projects and a decrease in automobile shipments, particularly by rental car agencies and automobile dealerships. Food shipments were stronger, partly due to changes in shipping methods.
Hilo volume rose 4.1 percent and Kauai edged up
0.6 percent on the strength of construction projects on Hawaii island and the Garden Island. But other construction-related shipments statewide were down during the year and affected the other islands. Volume to and from Lanai fell 8.3 percent, partly due to the completion of large projects on that island last year. Volume also fell in Kahului (1.5 percent), on Molokai (3.8 percent) and in Kawaihae on Hawaii island (4.8 percent).
During the fourth quarter, Hilo and Kauai were also the only ports to show volume increases, with gains of 8.3 percent and
2.6 percent, respectively. The remaining four ports recorded decreases, with Lanai showing the biggest decline at 20.7 percent. Kawaihae was down 8.8 percent, Molokai was off
5.4 percent and Kahului, the largest neighbor island port in terms of volume, was down 2 percent.
The agricultural sector picked up during the final quarter of the year and rose 4.6 percent from the same period a year ago. But that wasn’t enough to overcome a slowdown in the first nine months of 2016. For the year, outbound volume declined
4 percent to 7,424 CPEs from 7,734 CPEs. For the fourth quarter, shipments rose to 1,904 CPEs from 1,819 CPEs.
Kahului bucked the full-year downward trend as volume rose 9.8 percent. Elsewhere, shipments fell 10.1 percent in Kawaihae, 8.7 percent in Hilo, 4.7 percent on Kauai, 1.5 percent on Oahu and 0.6 percent on Molokai.
