Monday, November 15, 2010

Long Beach Port Posts Impressive October Growth, Los Angeles Also Up Slightly

The major Southern California ports continued to report increased cargo traffic volumes in October compared to the same period last year, with Long Beach posting impressive across-the-board double-digit growth and Los Angeles posting more modest but solid single-digit increases.

In addition, with only two months left in the year, both ports' cumulative year-to-date volume numbers seem poised to shatter expert predictions that 2010 would see growth in the 5 percent to 10 percent range over 2009.

In October, the Port of Long Beach posted the highest single month total container volume in three years with 513,621 TEUs handled, a 35.6 percent increase over October 2009. Total loaded imports for the month increased 33.5 percent over the year-ago period to 303,168 TEUs, only the second time since November 2007 the port has seen imports rise above the 300,000 TEU level. Total loaded exports also registered impressive gains, climbing 26.3 percent over the year-ago period to 150,581 TEUs for the month.

For the first ten months of 2010, the port has handled 5,181,881 TEUs, a 24.8 percent increase over the first ten months of 2009.

Across San Pedro Bay, the Port of Los Angeles reported more modest gains in October, with a total of 682,384 TEUs moved during the month for a 5.4 percent gain compared to October 2009.

These numbers were somewhat moderated due to the fact that October 2009 was the highest single month of traffic for the port in all of 2009, even outstripping total volume numbers for some of the early months of this year.

The port also handled 349,545 in total loaded import TEUs during October, a 3.2 percent increase over the same period last year. Port officials reported that total loaded export TEUs were essentially flat in October, with 151,049 TEUs handled for a 0.3 percent increase over October 2009.

For the January to October period, Los Angeles has handled a total of 6,552,280 TEUs, a 16.9 percent increase over the first ten months of 2009.