Tuesday, March 18, 2014

POLA Cargo Volumes Fall Nearly 9 Percent

By Mark Edward Nero

The Port of Los Angeles released its February 2014 cargo volumes on March 14, and according to the data, overall volumes were down 8.9 percent compared to February 2013.

The port attributes the decrease in part to the Chinese New Year, which closed many factories in Asia for two to three weeks in February. In 2013, the holiday had a negative impact on March container volumes.

Container imports decreased 10.6 percent, from 318,547 TEUs in February 2013 to 284,812 TEUs last month, according to the data. Additionally, exports dropped 6.2 percent, from 156,690 TEUs in February 2013 to 146,925 TEUs in February 2014.

Combined, total loaded imports and exports for February were down 9.1 percent, falling from 475,237 TEUs in February 2013 to 431,738 TEUs last month. Factoring in empties, which decreased 8.3 percent year over year, overall February 2014 volumes (559,786 TEUs) fell 8.9 percent compared to February 2013 (614,948 TEUs).

For the calendar year to date, the LA port has seen 1.24 million containers move through its terminals, which is a three percent drop from the 1.28 million TEUs that were moved during the same three months in 2013. However, for the fiscal year, container movement is actually up slightly, rising from 5.35 million containers during FY 2013 to 5.4 million this fiscal year, an increase of about one percent. LA’s fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.

Current and past data container counts for the Port of Los Angeles may be found at: http://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp.