Containerized cargo
continued its recent upward trend at the Port of Long Beach last month, with
volume rising 8.7 percent compared to October 2012 as the annual three-month peak
season for imports drew to a close.
Port terminals handled
576,502 20-foot equivalent container units in October 2013, an increase of 8.7
percent over October 2012, according to port data. Imports climbed 7.8 percent
to 298,271 TEUs, and exports were up by six percent to 141,457 TEUs. The number
of empty containers shipped was up 13.9 percent to 136,774 TEUs.
Cargo container volume was
up 13.2 percent during the first 10 months of the calendar year – including
15.2 percent more imports, 10.9 percent more exports and 11.1 percent more
empties.
During the peak
shipping season of August through October, imports were up 14.4 percent over
the same three-month period in 2012.
The cargo traffic news
was not as positive at the Port of Los Angeles however, where October overall
volumes totaled 684,207 TEUs, a drop of about 4.7 percent compared to October
2012 volumes, according to port data.
Imports declined by
5.14 percent, from 364,881 TEUs in October 2012 to 346,137 TEUs this October.
Exports dropped 5.7 percent, going from 179,810 TEUs in October 2012 to 169,568
TEUs last month.
Combined, total loaded
imports and exports for October were down 5.32 percent, dropping from 544,692
TEUs last October to 515,705 TEUs in October 2013. Factoring in empties, which
decreased three percent year over year, the overall October 2013 volume of
684,207 TEUs, was a decline of 4.76 percent compared to October 2012’s 718,406
TEUs.
Current and past data
container counts for the Port of Los Angeles may be found at
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp.
The latest Long Beach cargo numbers can be seen at http://www.polb.com/economics/stats/latest_teus.asp.
