SoCal Ports’ March Container Traffic Rebounds
Container traffic at the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach jumped more than 20% in March after a decline in February.
Loaded imports at the neighboring facilities, which make up the largest U.S. port complex, rose 20.7% to 550,930 20-foot equivalent units.
The gain was led by Los Angeles, whose traffic jumped 41.5% to 327,500. Long Beach’s slipped 0.7% to 223,430 TEUs.
Overall traffic at the two had declined 6.9% in February, due in part to the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday that closed factories in the Asian country for several weeks.
Combined container traffic at the ports, including imports, exports and empty containers, was up 22% to almost 1.18 million TEUs, the ports said.
Separately, the South Carolina Ports Authority said its March container volume rose to the highest level since August 2008.
Volume increased 10% to 150,516 TEUs from the same period last year, SCPA said.
“March is traditionally a seasonally strong month,” CEO Jim Newsome said in a statement. “We expect April to be a strong month as well.”
