Tuesday, February 16, 2016

POLA Has Busiest January in Its History

By Mark Edward Nero

The Port of Los Angeles handled over 704,000 TEUs in January 2016, an increase of 33 percent compared to January 2015. It was the busiest January in the port’s 109-year history.

January 2016 imports surged 41.6 percent to 367,208 TEUs compared to the previous year. Exports increased 1.5 percent to 126,240 TEUs in January, while total loaded imports of 493,449 TEUs increased 28.6 percent compared to the previous year. Empty containers increased 44 percent to 210,949 TEUs.

Combined, January overall volumes totaled 704,398 TEUs, a 33 percent increase compared to last year.

“Record January volumes is a very encouraging way to start 2016, particularly after the slow start that West Coast ports experienced last year,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said. “As cargo owners replenish their inventories after the holiday season, our terminals and supply chain partners continue to demonstrate progress in moving larger container volumes per ship call, and we are grateful for the work they’ve done in recent months to increase supply chain efficiencies and optimization.”

Regarding fiscal year volumes, they’re up about three percent compared to the corresponding period in FY 2015. Thus far, the port has seen 4.96 million TEUs since the July 1 beginning of the fiscal year, compared with 4.81 million units during the same seven-month period in FY 2015.

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