BALTIMORE (Map, News) - It was a record-setting year for the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.

The total value of cargo moving through the Port of Baltimore reached an all-time high in 2007 as $41.9 billion in goods passed through, breaking the previous record set a year before.

Baltimore also knocked Jacksonville, Fla., out of the top slot to become the nation’s leading auto export port, and also took the top slot for sugar imports. The port ranked 12th nationally for total dollar value of cargo and rose one spot to 13th for total foreign cargo handled.

Port officials attributed the jumps to a weakened dollar boosting exports and high fuel prices giving Baltimore a geographical advantage as the closest East Coast port to the Midwest.

“We’re the further inland port, we’re able to get to our customers quicker and more efficiently and in many cases less expensively than many of our competing ports,” said port spokesman Richard Scher. “With fuel prices the way they are, a quicker, shorter drive from point A to point B is going to be valued in today’s economy.”

General cargo through the public marine terminals set a record for the sixth straight year with 8.7 million tons, up from 8.6 million tons in 2006, according to port information.

Exports overall reached 11.3 million tons last year, 35 percent higher than 2006 and the highest level since 1996. Auto exports from both private and public terminals increased 80 percent to 293,559 units from 162,784, forest products rose 33 percent to 446,447 tons, and steel saw the largest increase, up 118 percent to 117,596 tons from 53,856 tons.

The port’s increase in sugar imports may come from increases in ethanol production, said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission. Based on corn, rising ethanol production has made corn products including corn sweetener more expensive, causing a jump in sugar imports. A weak dollar also boosts exports, he said.

“The cheap dollar against the euro has been helping American exports a lot, and it’s been helping in the auto sector,” Morici said. “You’re starting to see it pay off in Baltimore for that reason.”

acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com