Tonnage throughput at Canada's Port of Prince Rupert was down 24.5% for the first quarter 2009 compared to the first quarter 2008, from 3.07 mt to 2.3 mt.
The main contributing factor to the decline was falling coal shipments through Ridley Terminals.
All other traffic sectors at the Port of Prince Rupert showed positive performance levels when compared to the same period last year.
The Ridley Terminals (RTI) coal facility handled 639,765t from January to March 2009, a decline of 61% compared to the 1.59 mt throughput in 2008.
RTI has been heavily impacted by the curtailment of coal production by its major customers in northern British Columbia. Wood pellet and petroleum coke shipments were also down, while coking coal was up nearly 42%.
