SoCal Ports’ Import Volume Rises 7.5% in August
Inbound imported containers at the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach rose 7.5% in August from a year ago, with Long Beach reporting its highest volume since October 2007.
Loaded imports rose to 683,500 20-foot equivalent units at the sister ports, according to monthly figures released last week. August’s gain topped July’s 5.1% increase.
The facilities constitute the largest U.S. port complex and together account for about 40% of national cargo volume.
Long Beach’s volume jumped 19.2%, though its 328,000 TEUs were below Los Angeles’ 356,000 units, which marked a 1.4% decline year-over-year.
Year to date, imported TEUs rose 1.7% to almost 8.25 million, with Long Beach up 16.7% to just about 3.1 million and L.A. down 5.6% to almost 5.14 million.
The cargo trend reflects the addition of large ships at both ports and the shift of some cargo to Long Beach from Los Angeles late last year.
Total August cargo volume — including imports, exports and empty containers — totaled almost 1.34 million TEUs, up 7.1% from a year ago and above July’s 2.3% increase.
Year-to-date overall volume rose 3.8% to about 11.12 million TEUs, including a 13.4% increase at Long Beach and 5.6% decline at the Port of L.A.
