Cargo numbers at the Port of Los Angeles rose in October, the third consecutive month POLA has seen increases — an mirroring an October rise also reported earlier by the Port of Long Beach.
POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka announced the October numbers at his monthly virtual news conference on Friday, Nov. 17.
“We’ve seen a solid start to the fourth quarter,” Seroka said.
Cargo was up by 7% over October 2022, he added, coming in at 725,775 twenty-foot-equivalent containers, or TEUs, the industry’s standard cargo container measurement.
“Overall, considering this year’s light peak season,” Seroka said, “October was a good month at the Port of Los Angeles.”
So far in 2023, the port has moved about 7.1 million TEUs despite a “very slow” start to the year, Seroka said.
And the trend is expected to continue, he added.
“November already is shaping up to be one of our strongest months of the year,” with some 800,000 TEUs projected, Seroka said.
The Port of Long Beach also reported an uptick in cargo for October earlier this week, with a 14.7 % increase at that port over the same month last year.
The combined ports also showed a boost in market share, Seroka said.
“In the last three months, the San Pedro Bay ports increased their market share to 46% compared to 42% last year,” he said. “Though there is a lot of room for improvement, we’re starting to see more cargo moving back.”
Seroka also said exports edged up at the Port of Los Angeles.
“The rise of exports is a positive trend that continued in October,” he said, “with a 35% increase over last year’s very soft numbers.”
After years of “very low” export trade, he said, “it’s encouraging to see the trend begin to reverse.”
The “resilience” of the American consumer and other factors, Seroka said, are contributing to the uptick.
“We’re running at 70% capacity right now,” he said, but added there are still uncertainties in the supply chain. The…
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