Hanjin Bankruptcy Hits Long Beach Port Hard, But Los Angeles Left Unscathed
Container traffic at the two biggest West Coast ports was mixed in September, with a significant drop in Long Beach because of the Hanjin bankruptcy but a gain in Los Angeles, which had less exposure.
The Port of Long Beach, second-largest in the country, reported that longshoremen handled 546,805 industry-standard 20-foot equivalent unit containers, or TEUs, a 16.6% drop from the 655,624 last September.
Port officials in California blamed the disruption from the Hanjin ships not arriving in Long Beach and the lack of Hanjin containers on other vessels in the CKYHE Alliance. Hanjin accounts for about 12.3% of the total container volume in Long Beach, according to port officials. The ocean carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in South Korea and the United States on Aug. 31.
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The Port of Los Angeles, the largest in the United States, reported it handled 747,707 TEUs in September, a 2.4% increase from 730,306 one year ago. Exports increased to 145,096 TEUs from 124,286 year-over-year, or a 16.7% increase. Imports increased 4.3% to 388,958.
“Despite challenges in global logistics due to the Hanjin bankruptcy, we’re pleased to see both import and export growth,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. “We continue to work diligently in collaboration with our many stakeholders to deliver on our customers’ supply chain requirements.”
For the year, overall cargo volumes in Los Angeles have increased 4.1% to 6.4 million TEUs, while in Long Beach they’ve dropped 4.6% to 5.1 million.
September volumes at the #PortofLA increase 2.4%: https://t.co/bWWVwrnEty pic.twitter.com/2xI8j3JeHt — Port of Los Angeles (@PortofLA) October 13, 2016
