Imports Rise at Long Beach, L.A. Ports

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles received more imports in October than a year earlier, as retailers continued to stock up for the holiday shopping season and build inventory before 2000. Exports were also up, for the fifth straight month in Los Angeles and the third consecutive month in Long Beach. Shippers brought 204,000 containers last month into the Port of Long Beach, up 13% from October 1998, as imports of toys and other consumer goods rose. Imports to Los Angeles jumped 23% to 199,000 containers. Exports from Los Angeles were up 16%, while Long Beach exports rose 9.3%. The rise in exports still wasn’t enough to match the volume of imports, forcing shippers to send empty containers back to Asia. The number of empties exported from Long Beach was up 20%, and empties shipped out of Los Angeles were up 33%.