Traffic at L.A. and Long Beach ports falls in June
The nation’s busiest seaport complex saw its first year-to-year cargo decline in 19 months in June, down 4.4% compared with the same month last year.
Trade experts and port officials said the numbers may reflect a return to a more traditional seasonal shipping pattern this year, adding that it was not necessarily a sign of an economic slowdown.
“We had a very strong June, July and August last year with gains averaging 32% compared to 2009,” said Phillip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles. That port and the neighboring Port of Long Beach are the largest and second-largest container ports, respectively, in the nation. “Given that kind of exceptional summer, it’s not surprising that we’re not exceeding them.”
But port customers were looking anxiously for positive signs, given the national debt stalemate in Washington, continuing high unemployment in the U.S., Middle East unrest, European debt problems and other issues. “There’s still a lot of uneasiness and uncertainty out there,” said Art Wong, spokesman for the Port of Long Beach.
Together, the two ports move more than 40% of the nation’s Asian imports and are a key barometer of the state of the U.S. economy. This year, economists are still expecting a surge of international trade, but not until September.
Trade through the nation’s 10 biggest seaports is expected to increase 10% to 19% in each of the last three months of the year compared with a year earlier, according to a new report prepared by the Washington business research firm Hackett Associates for the National Retail Federation.
“The increases in import volume expected this fall are a clear sign that retailers are confident consumer demand will be there in the fourth quarter,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation.
Imports through the two ports were down 4.78% to 605,007 containers in June compared with a year earlier, in spite of an increase through Long Beach of 3.5%. Exports through both ports were a bright spot, up a combined 7.04% to 289,725 containers. Overall, including empty containers, the two ports moved 1.2 million containers in June, compared with 1.25 million in June 2010. For the first six months of the year, the two ports are ahead of their 2010 pace by a combined 4.28% at 6.73 million containers.
