By Mark Edward Nero
The Port of Los Angeles handled more than 826,600 TEUs last month, an increase of 17.4 percent compared to January 2016, according to data released Feb. 14.
The total volume made the month the busiest January in the port’s 110-year history, outpacing last January, which was the previous record for the first month of the year.
It was also the second-best month overall for the port, eclipsed only by last November’s 877,564 TEUs.
“Coming off our best year ever in 2016, it’s very encouraging to keep the momentum going into 2017,” Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a statement.
The port attributes the January surge in part to retail stores replenishing inventories after the holidays, a trend of increased US exports and cargo ships calling ahead of the Lunar New Year, when goods from Asia slow down considerably.
Over the most recent 10-year period, January volumes at the Port of Los Angeles have averaged 645,142 TEUs.
Import volumes in January increased 13.1 percent to 415,423 TEUs compared to the same month last year, while exports surged 28.7 percent to 162,420 TEUs in January. Total loaded imports of 577,843 TEUs increased 17.1 percent compared to the previous year. Empty containers jumped 17.9 percent to 248,797 TEUs. Combined, January overall volumes were 826,640 TEUs, a 17.4 percent jump over January 2016’s numbers.
Current and historical POLA volume data is available at https://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp
