Puget Sound ports see volumes slip

The ports of Seattle and Tacoma have reported declines in container volumes and increases in containerized exports through the first seven months of the year.

Seattle port officials said container volumes handled since January fell 8 percent to 1.02 million TEUs over the first seven months of 2007.

The nearby Port of Tacoma dipped 0.8 percent through July, from the 1.1 million TEUs handled by the port in the first seven months of 2007.

According to port officials, Tacoma's recent volumes appear to have been buoyed by an aggressive sales campaign to attract container traffic and the January start of operations in Tacoma by ocean carrier MOL.