During September, 43 container vessels called at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal in New Orleans, setting an all-time record for the number of container ships arriving at the port in a given month.

“The better news is October is expected to break last month’s mark,” said port President and CEO Gary LaGrange. “Our terminal operators and port staff have worked closely with the shipping lines to build services and new cargo opportunities in New Orleans. Together with up ticks in the national and global economies, we hope to see this trend continue.”

In September, the port handled cargo from calls by 17 Mediterranean Shipping Co. vessels, 12 Hapag-Lloyd vessels, eight Seaboard vessels, five Maersk vessels and one CMA-CGM vessel. A total of 47 container vessels are scheduled to call the port in October.

Hapag-Lloyd added a new vessel to its service from the Mediterranean to New Orleans in September, which helped to boost the monthly container volume.

Through the first six months of 2010 the port handled 60 percent more volume as measured in 20-foot-equivalent units than in the same period one year ago.

At this pace, the port throughput could top 400,000 TEUs at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal for all of 2010.

The Journal of Commerce Online