Port of Oakland reached all-time high in cargo volume 2014

The Port of Oakland has reached an all-time high in cargo volume thanks to a stronger U.S. demand for Asian goods and because busy ports in Southern California have diverted some of their cargo north to Oakland.

Port Maritime Director John Driscoll said Tuesday the port handled the equivalent of 2.394 million 20-foot freight containers last year, the biggest number since 2006 when it handled 2.391 million boxes.

Driscoll says a labor dispute between waterfront employers and dockworkers is magnifying the slowdown at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Because of a freight backlog, the Southern California ports in December rerouted 74,356 loaded import containers to Oakland. That's the biggest number of rerouted containers since May.

The Port of Oakland says overall container volume, which includes imports and exports, increased 2 percent in 2014.