The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have each released
their May 2014 containerized cargo volumes, and in both cases, the numbers were
up compared with the same month last year.
At the Port of LA, overall volumes increased more than eight
percent last month compared to May 2013, according to data. Total cargo at the port
for May was just under 690,000 TEUs.
Container imports rose 7.75 percent, from 326,114 TEUs in
May 2013 to 351,403 TEUs last month, while exports rose 2.3 percent during the
month, going from 154,904 TEUs in May 2013 to 158,473 TEUs in May 2014.
Combined, total loaded imports and exports increased six
percent, from 481,019 TEUs in May 2013 to 509,876 TEUs in May 2014. Factoring
in empties, which increased 15 percent year over year, overall May 2014 volumes
at Los Angeles of 689,141 TEUs, was a jump of 8.2 percent compared to May
2013’s 636,851 TEUs.
For the first five months of calendar year 2014, LA’s
overall volume of 3.3 million TEUs represents an 8.2 percent increase compared
to the same period in 2013.
Meanwhile, at the Port of Long Beach, cargo container
numbers edged up 2.7 percent last month, making it the seaport’s busiest May
since 2007 by reaching nearly 600,000 container units.
Long Beach terminals handled 599,509 TEUs overall in May,
including 312,439 TEUs of imports – a 2.3 percent increase compared to May
2013. Although exports were flat with a slight decline of 0.3 percent to
146,702 TEUs, the number of empty containers shipped rose 7.1 percent to 140,368
TEUs.
Although May was the second consecutive month of increasing
volume, Long Beach has seen an increase of just 1.3 percent for the first five
months of 2014 compared to the same period last year.
Go to www.polb.com/stats for more details on Long Beach’s cargo numbers and http://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp for current and past data container
counts for the Port of Los Angeles.