By Karen Robes Meeks
The Port of Los Angeles has established a new single-month cargo record for the fifth month in a row, the port announced Tuesday.
Last month, the port handled 861,081 TEUs, a 4.2 percent jump from August 2018. It is the port’s busiest August in its 112-year history.
Imports rose 4.1 percent when compared to August 2018 reaching 437,613 TEUs. Exports fell 10 percent to 146,284 TEUs, the tenth straight month of decreases. Empties jumped 13.8 percent to 277,183 TEUs.
Eight months into 2019 and Los Angeles’ volumes are up 5.7 percent compared to the record year of 2018.
“Our strong volume growth this year is due in part to our global supply chain relationships, aggressive marketing and improvements in operational efficiencies,” said Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. “We continue to build value with the Port Optimizer™, a digitization tool which increases visibility of incoming cargo and improves logistics planning and overall efficiency.”
Seroka added that the final months of 2018 ended with “an extraordinary influx of imports to beat expected tariffs on China-origin goods.”
“We don’t expect to see those kind of volumes in the months ahead,” he said. “We need a negotiated settlement of the U.S.-China trade war to restore global trade stability.”