The Port of Virginia has reported continuing growth in throughput, handling 175,330 20-foot equivalent containers (TEUs) in October, 1.5 percent more than the same month last year.

“October was our ninth consecutive month of growth and it would have been greater had we not had some cargo diverted to the West Coast as a result of the strike that was scheduled to begin at the beginning of October, and we had some vessel calls at the end of the month that were pushed into November as a result of Hurricane Sandy,” Rodney W. Oliver, the Virginia Port Authority’s interim executive director, stated in a press release.

“Had we not had those disruptions, our volumes would have been even better; we’ll recapture that cargo and see it reflected in the November totals.”

Year-to-date, the port has handled 1,721,417 TEUs against 1,599,784 during the same period last year, an increase of 7.6 percent, the release says.

Also in October, 33,031 rail containers were handled, which was 8.2 percent more than in October 2011.

Year-to-date, rail containers handled stands at 314,050, versus 274,777 for the same period last year, an increase of 14.3 percent.

Twelve percent fewer containers were moved between the Port of Richmond and Hampton Roads on the 64 Express barge service this October compared to that month last year.

But year-to-date barge traffic is up 104 percent: 6,674 this year against 3,262 in 2011.