Healthy quarter at Port of Long Beach, despite March's dip in cargo volumes

Cargo figures at the Port of Long Beach showed a drop-off in March, though the first quarter of this year remained strong, port officials said.

For the first three months of 2016, the volume of shipping containers moving through the Port of Long Beach increased 6 percent when compared to the first quarter of last year. Looking at March in isolation, however, shows a year-over-year 26 percent decline.

Last March, however, was an unusual time for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Shipping activity at the twin ports surged in March 2015 after longshore workers and their employers achieved a labor agreement that ended the slowdowns that had plagued West Coast ports during the first weeks of 2015.

Port of Long Beach officials also stated that shipping activity slowed last month because many East Asian factories halted production during Lunar New Year celebrations.

“Overall, we are pleased with these results,” said Port of Long Beach Chief Executive Jon Slangerup said in a statement. “The uneven global economy, industry financial pressures, weak U.S. export demand and the introduction of megasized container vessels to West Coast ports have created dynamic conditions for the maritime industry that will continue to play out over the coming year.

The new statistics show that during the month of March, imports to the Port of Long Beach fell 35 percent to nearly 208,000 container units. Exports were flat at roughly 127,000 units and the number of empty containers moving through the port fell 30 percent to 130,000 units.

For the entire quarter, however, Port of Long Beach officials said the January to February period was the busiest since the 2007.

Port of Los Angeles officials similarly reported Wednesday that more than 2 million container units — a record — moved through their port during the first quarter. That level of activity signified an 11 percent increase over cargo volumes recorded during the same period in 2015.

The Los Angeles port also recorded a similar dip for the month of March. Cargo volumes there fell 23 percent, year over year.

Advertisement