{"id":398525,"date":"2026-07-14T22:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/398525\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:55:21","slug":"long-beach-port-ceo-traditional-peak-shipping-season-obsolete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/398525\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Port CEO: Traditional Peak Shipping Season ‘Obsolete’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAfter the Port of Long Beach<\/a> posted its third-busiest June on record, CEO Noel Hacegaba signaled that the traditional end-of-summer peak shipping season<\/a> is \u201coutdated and obsolete,\u201d giving way to a fluid environment where businesses must account more for volatility than certainty.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFlexibility has become the supply chain\u2019s greatest competitive advantage, but it now signals peak season is no longer a season,\u201d Hacegaba said in a media briefing Tuesday. \u201cWhen it comes to seasonal goods that typically hit the market certain times of the year, we are seeing those goods enter the U.S. market sooner. What typically characterized holiday peak season has been replaced by a yearlong wave of cargo<\/a> that comes in different spurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year, the peak shipping season has been pulled forward due to multiple factors, including front-loading ahead of new tariff deadlines<\/a> for a second straight year, along with increases in fuel costs sparked by the war in Iran and a need to restock on low inventories.<\/p>\n

\n\tHacegaba noted that goods that typically hit the store shelves in October, November and December are now arriving at the San Pedro Bay port as early as spring.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think that is something that will continue in the foreseeable future,\u201d Hacegaba said. \u201cIt\u2019s a strategy to mitigate risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn June, the Southern California port moved more than 779,331 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 10.6 percent increase over year-ago figures.<\/p>\n

\n\tImports rose 11 percent to over 387,025 TEUs. Exports were down 1.3 percent to over 86,446 TEUs, and emptying containers were up 14.1 percent to nearly 305,860 TEUs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe June figures saw a smaller jump than the projections made across all major U.S. ports<\/a> monitored by the Global Port Tracker from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. According to the Global Port Tracker, estimated June throughput could amount to 2.33 million TEUs, up 18.7 percent<\/a> year over year.<\/p>\n

\n\tHacegaba highlighted some of the factors leading to the growth during the month.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re seeing ocean carriers add services<\/a> to meet the demand,\u201d said Hacegaba. \u201cThey\u2019re also bringing more unscheduled ships to the port, known as extra loaders, to import more cargo<\/a> and remove empty containers to clear the docks and create more space on our terminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYear-to-date, the Port of Long Beach<\/a> has handled 4.83 million TEUs since January, 1.7 percent ahead of last year\u2019s record 2025. Despite the front-loading efforts from shippers, the port CEO expects the gateway to see \u201crobust growth\u201d in the second half of the year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe L.B. port unveiled on Monday that it acquired a commercial office property to create a hub for companies connected to maritime trade.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move aligns with Long Beach mayor Rex Richardson\u2019s \u201cAnchorLB\u201d economic development strategy, which is aimed at encouraging international shippers, manufacturers and other logistics businesses to locate their offices in downtown Long Beach.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe property includes a 13-story building with 226,748 rentable square feet of office space and a five-level parking structure.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnchorLB helps fortify the Long Beach hub\u2019s long-term vision for 2050, in which it expects to double annual container volumes to 20 million. To help reach that goal, the port is undertaking a 10-year $3.3 billion infrastructure modernization strategy, the centerpiece of which is the $1.8 billion Pier B on-dock rail support facility designed to triple the volume of cargo moved by rail when completed in 2032.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the same day as the briefing, Congressman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approve a $255 million investment to deepen the port\u2019s main channel and reduce pollution from ships waiting to dock outside the harbor. Garcia said the investment will not only reduce pollution but also will lower costs and prevent cargo delays.<\/p>\n

\n\tLong Beach\u2019s sister gateway, the Port of Los Angeles, has yet to report its June cargo figures.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast week, that port announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with China\u2019s Yantian International Container Terminals and Shenzhen Port Group, establishing a green shipping corridor initiative between the hubs to advance sustainable trade and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe port has established green shipping corridor partnerships with hubs in Shanghai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and partners in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe MOU encourages collaboration through technical exchanges, sharing of best practices, research and demonstration projects, business development, workforce engagement and regular dialogue among the participating ports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Port of Long Beach posted its third-busiest June on record, CEO Noel Hacegaba signaled that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[9754,4554,131,133,132,3359,6828],"class_list":["post-398525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-cargo","tag-container-shipping","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-port-of-long-beach","tag-ports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}