The Port of Long Beach, however, had decreases in total volume, imports and exports in January.
The ports of Los Angeles and Oakland both experienced total container volume increases in January compared to January 2018, but the Port of Long Beach total volume decreased by .1 percent with drops to both its containerized imports and exports.
The Port of Los Angeles experienced the busiest January in its history by handling 852,449 TEUs, a 5.41 percent increase from January 2018. Empty containers jumped by 17.67 percent to 277,533 TEUs.
Although loaded imports rose slightly — 1.68 percent to 429,922 TEUs — the port experienced a 3.6 percent drop in loaded exports to 144,933 TEUs. Overall, its total loaded volume — 571,915 TEUs — mostly held steady with a .36 percent growth compared to January 2018.
The Port of Oakland was the only one of the three to have containerized export volume increase compared to January 2018 with a slight .6 percent jump to 75,350 TEUs. The port’s containerized imports grew by 9 percent to 81,895 TEUs and its total volume increased by 3.2 percent to 212,496 TEUs.
Oakland said it was the busiest January for imports in the port’s history and pointed to two developments in Asia, its largest market, that influenced a January import surge. “U.S. shippers rushed imports into the country due to lingering concern about future Chinese tariff increases. Importers also tried to stock up in advance of annual Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in Asia,” the port said.
John Driscoll, Port of Oakland maritime director, said, “Concern over international trade issues has driven unprecedented import volume. We’re watching closely to see what happens next.”
The Port of Long Beach reported in January it handled 657,286 TEUs, which was a .1 percent drop from January 2018. Containerized exports fell by 2.7 percent to 117,838 TEUs and imports decreased by .3 percent to 323,838 TEUs.
Its empty containers, however, increased 1.6 percent to 216,160 TEUs.
Ports of L.A., Oakland report container volume increase
