The twin ports each boasted its second busiest July on record and combined to have the most prolific month of the year in terms of cargo movement.<\/p>\n
The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach combined to process nearly 1.89 million TEUs of cargo containers in July, signifying the likely peak of the year as retailers stock up for the fall and winter. Not only was it the second busiest July for each \u2013 dwarfed only by last year\u2019s numbers \u2013 but the combined total represents the third busiest month ever for the twin ports.<\/p>\n
For now, leaders cite consumer demand as the offsetting factor to any trade uncertainty and ongoing tariffs imposed on certain trading partners. What has traditionally been peak shipping season \u2013 when manufacturers get back-to-school goods and winter holiday merchandise to retailers \u2013 has moved to earlier in the summer, likely an adjustment to President Donald Trump\u2019s trade policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses continue to move cargo when they see windows of opportunity amid an evolving trade environment, while resilient consumer demand is helping keep imports at historically strong levels,\u201d Port of L.A. Executive Director Gene Seroka said at his monthly media briefing. \u201cWe expect another strong month in August, although some cargo that traditionally arrives later in the season has already moved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breakdown<\/p>\n
Stevedores at the Port of L.A. handled 499,552 TEUs \u2013 20-foot-equivalent units, the general if imprecise measurement of shipped cargo \u2013 of loaded imports in July, representing a decrease from last year\u2019s record month but also a 7.5% increase over the port\u2019s five-year July average.<\/p>\n
Those at the Port of Long Beach handled 467,461 TEUs of loaded imports, virtually equal to last year\u2019s numbers. It also represents the port\u2019s high for the year.<\/p>\n
On the loaded exports side, L.A. saw 111,776 TEUs hoisted onto ships in July (a decrease of 8%) while Long Beach had 104,843 TEUs (up 14.8%).<\/p>\n
The remaining sum is composed of empty containers being moved in either direction.<\/p>\n
Port of Long Beach Chief Executive Noel Hacegaba, noting that this was the seventh time the port had achieved cargo volumes north of 900,000 TEUs, pointed to the July 24 expiration of the federal government\u2019s temporary tariff program as a factor in the surge. Shippers have typically assumed the worst during this administration when it comes time to renew expiring tariffs, prompting surges to get ahead of any price increases that would ultimately pass along to consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis capped an early peak season as companies continued to navigate tariff uncertainty, higher fuel costs and other global issues,\u201d Hacegaba told reporters in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses can\u2019t control trade policy, geopolitical events or energy markets,\u201d he added. \u201cWhat they can control is how quickly they respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dwell times increase<\/p>\n
The busyness of July was reflected \u2013 albeit only mildly \u2013 in the July cargo dwell times, the period between when cargo is offloaded from ships and loaded onto either drayage trucks or rail cars.<\/p>\n
The average truck dwell time was 3.03 days, just hours higher than both last July and this June. Rail dwell times were 6.34 days on average, about a day longer than last July and June this year.<\/p>\n
Both numbers were highs for the year, although not by wide margins.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we saw a modest increase in dwell times in July, cargo continues to move through the San Pedro Bay ports at manageable levels,\u201d said Natasha Villa, senior manager of public affairs for the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, in a statement. \u201cThe ability of marine terminals, dockworkers, drayage providers, rail partners, and other supply chain stakeholders to adapt to changing cargo patterns and maintain fluid operations demonstrate the strength and resilience of our supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The twin ports each boasted its second busiest July on record and combined to have the most prolific…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132,3359,1438],"class_list":["post-456917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-port-of-long-beach","tag-port-of-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456917","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=456917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}