Port traffic jumps at L.A., Long Beach

The Port of Los Angeles had its busiest June ever for cargo, surpassing the number of containers moved during the height of the global economic boom in 2006, and the neighboring Port of Long Beach also showed a strong increase in imports, port officials said Tuesday.

Although the increased traffic at the two ports represented a big boost for the Southern California economy, experts cautioned that the improvement could weaken in the coming months.

The effects were felt immediately at the nation’s busiest seaport complex. For the first time since the worldwide recession, jobs were so plentiful on the docks last month that veteran union members had to be supplemented by hundreds of part-time workers, known as casuals. That followed a year in which there were no jobs for part-timers and even veterans struggled to find work.

“The numbers were a lot stronger than we anticipated,” said Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles. “We’re heading into the peak shipping season, which is the busiest time of the year. Last year, we didn’t have a peak.”

At the Port of Los Angeles in June, imports climbed to 371,889 containers, up 32% from a year earlier. Its exports were up 13% to 154,558 containers but reflected a growing trade imbalance. The port’s overall traffic, including empty containers, rose to 730,318 containers in June, up 32% from a year earlier; for the first half of the year, traffic increased 15% compared with the same period of 2009.

At the Port of Long Beach, imports jumped 27% in June to 262,053 containers. Exports rose a modest 2% to 116,112 containers. The port’s overall traffic in June, including empties, was up 26% to 520,100 containers. For the first six months of the year, traffic at Long Beach was up 20% to 2.8 million containers.

When international trade declines, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and their surrounding communities are among the first to suffer because the cargo complex moves about 40% of the nation’s imported containers. When trade improves, so does the number of logistics-related jobs — the steadiest source for good blue-collar wages in Southern California.

With trade on the upswing, counties near the ports and stretching out into the Inland Empire warehouse district should see the quickest recovery among the nation’s seaports, according to John Carver, executive vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle, which recently studied several U.S ports and their surrounding areas.

“I think Los Angeles and Long Beach will be the first to attract the new wave of commercial real estate investment, after a year in which there was very little activity,” Carver said.

But the increases seen in June might be tough to sustain.

Nancy D. Sidhu, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the June port statistics reflected a shift among retailers to restock their inventories. Sidhu said that the rest of the summer should be strong.

“And then what? Then it begins to relax,” Sidhu said. “Growth rates will decline, and the numbers will depend then on the strength of consumer spending and demand.”

The economy isn’t showing the strength needed for sustained growth, said Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation.

“There clearly can’t be consistent growth in consumer spending when customers don’t have jobs. That means retailers are going to have to manage their inventories more carefully as the year progresses,” Gold said. “We’re still going to see increases in container volume, but not as large as what we’ve seen so far.”

ron.white@latimes.com