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Port of Los Angeles sees busiest month outside pandemic

The Port of Los Angeles saw near-record container volume in August. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The Port of Los Angeles handled 960,597 twenty-foot equivalent units in August, a 16% increase over the previous year and the busiest month ever outside the pandemic.

Eight months into 2024, the leading U.S. container gateway is 17% ahead of its 2023 pace, already moving nearly 1 million more containers than a year ago.

“The American consumer continues to spend and that’s helping to power our economy,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said at a media briefing. “Some of the cargo arriving now is replenishing inventories even beyond the year-end holiday season. Combined with a steady flow of manufacturing parts and components, we should continue to see elevated volume in the near term.”

August loaded imports landed at 509,363 TEUs, an 18% increase compared to the previous year. Loaded exports came in at 121,744 TEUs, off 3% compared to 2023. The port processed 329,491 empty containers, a 22% jump compared to 2023.


Overall, the hub moved 6,631,688 TEUs through the first eight months of 2024, a 17% increase over the same period in 2023.

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Stuart Chirls

Stuart Chirls is a journalist who has covered the full breadth of railroads, intermodal, container shipping, ports, supply chain and logistics for Railway Age, the Journal of Commerce and IANA. He has also staffed at S&P, McGraw-Hill, United Business Media, Advance Media, Tribune Co., The New York Times Co., and worked in supply chain with BASF, the world's largest chemical producer. Reach him at stuartchirls@firecrown.com.