port newark John MooreGetty Images.JPG

The Port of New York and New Jersey handled a record number of shipping containers in 2014, thanks largely to improved economic conditions, officials said.

(John Moore/Getty Images)

Local shipping terminals handled more containers than ever before in 2014, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced.

The record volume was attributed to an improving economy that drove demand for consumer goods, as well as investment in facilities by terminal operators and the Port Authority.

The 3,342,286 containers handled by terminals in Newark, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Staten Island and elsewhere in the Port of New York and New Jersey was 5.4 percent more than in 2013, and 4.1 percent more than in 2012, the port's previous best year for container volume, the bi-state agency said.

The agency said last year's high-mark "allowed the port to maintain its position as the busiest on the East Coast with nearly 30 percent of the total market share."

But John Nardi, president of the New York Shipping Association, an industry group that represents private terminal operators who lease space from the Port Authority, said the situation was not so simple. Nardi said at least part of the port's growth in 2014 was thanks to the re-routing of cargo by importers worried about potential labor unrest on the West Coast.

And, Nardi noted, the Port of New York and New Jersey had actually lost East Coast market share since 2010, when it accounted for 33.6 percent of the containers shipped to the 10 ports from Boston to Miami.

"It's nice that we're setting records, but every East Coast port is setting records now," Nardi said.

The Port Authority also reported a new high in 2014 for the number of containers shipped using the port's ExpressRail network, which transfers containers between ships and trains, a process supported by environmentalists that reduces emissions from port trucks.

The 465,405 containers shipped through the port by rail last year was up 9.3 percent over 2013, and surpassed the previous high mark for ExpressRail volume, also set in 2012.

The agency has spent $600 million on the ExpressRail system over more than a decade, raised through a fee charged on each container that moves in or out of the port, whether by rail or truck.

"Our port is continuing to reap the benefits of an uptick in the economy, which has resulted in the hiring of more dockworkers and economic growth for the region," Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye said in a statement, referring to the hiring of 577 longshoremen last year. "We plan to continue our investments in the port in the coming years to maintain the port's 296,000 direct and indirect jobs and to cement our port as the East Coast's leading destination."

Foye thanked terminal operators, the International Longshoremen's Association union and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, groups that have sometimes been at odds over labor and hiring practices, for their roles in the port's continued growth.

The announcement of the port's 2014 performance comes days after the agency's longtime director of Port Commerce, Richard Larabee, announced he would retire after a successor was named.

Despite the overall increase in trade, 2014 saw a 12.8-percent decrease in automobiles shipped into the port, from 451,900 in 2013 to 393,931 last year.

China remained the top exporter to the port in 2014, at 923,975 containers, or 28 percent of the port's total volume last year. Germany, at 179,715 containers shipped to the port, was next, followed by India (176,621). Furniture, beverages and appliances were the leading containerized imports.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow hin on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.