Record Year Posted by Ports

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach hoisted 14.2 million shipping containers in 2005, the most ever, driven by ever-increasing trade from Asia, particularly China and India.

The nation’s busiest seaport complex moved 8% more containers than in 2004, when the two seaports handled a record 13.1 million 20-foot equivalent units, the international maritime standard for measuring containerized freight.

Although record-setting traffic has become routine at the ports, the cargo flowed more smoothly last year, avoiding a repeat of the crushing congestion of 2004, when shortages of dockworkers, railroad workers and rail cars left as many as 94 ships backed up while waiting to be offloaded.

Some vessels had to wait as long as one week to unload, creating a holiday shopping season nightmare for some retailers and causing the ports to lose business to other harbors.

In 2005, the docks benefited from better forecasting of cargo traffic, more longshore workers, increased equipment and longer operating hours. In July, the twin ports became the first in the U.S. to keep gates open almost 24 hours a day, allowing as much as a third of the imported and exported cargo to move at night.

“It was a great year for us. The cargo moved through quickly and easily,” said Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach, which accounted for the lion’s share of the increase with 6.7 million containers during 2005, up 16% from 2004.

The Port of Los Angeles moved 7.5 million containers, up nearly 3% from 2004.

Another big year is expected. “We are confident the numbers will continue to increase through 2006,” said Theresa Adams Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles.