By Mark Edward Nero
October container volumes were down 6.2 percent at the Port of Long Beach compared to the same month last year, as the fallout from the Hanjin bankruptcy continues to settle.
A total of 581,808 TEUs moved through docks last month, according to port data. Export TEUs were 1.2 percent down, relatively flat compared to last October, to 126,770 TEUs. Total imports were 296,711 TEUs, 3.7 percent off. Empty containers experienced the largest drop of 13.8 percent to 158,327 boxes.
Port officials noted the harbor’s last October was the best in the previous eight years, and came during a string of six consecutive months of cargo growth to end 2015.
The port said a major factor affecting its volume is the Hanjin bankruptcy, which the South Korea-based company filed in late August. In 2015, Hanjin Shipping containers accounted for over 12 percent of the port’s total containerized volume.
Hanjin, which until recently was the world’s seventh largest container carrier, owns a majority stake in one POLB terminal, TTI.
For the calendar year through October, the port’s 2016 TEUs trail the 2015 total by 4.8 percent. October was the first month of the port’s new fiscal year.
More detailed cargo numbers are at www.polb.com/stats.
