Retailers who stocked up early before the Lunar New Year brought strong cargo numbers in January for both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, officials there said.
Factories in Asia typically close down for 10 days, spurring cargo owners to actively replenish supplies ahead of the holiday.
“The Port of Los Angeles is off to a great start,” Executive Director Gene Seroka said Wednesday, Feb. 14, during his monthly cargo news briefing with reporters. He was joined this month by California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.
It was the second best January on record, Seroka said, and was 18% higher than cargo numbers during the same month last year.
The same scenario played out at the neighboring Port of Long Beach, where January cargo were numbers up 17.5% from the same month in 2023.
“Retailers stocked their warehouses in January ahead of the slower import activity we typically see during Lunar New Year celebrations,” Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero said in a written statement..”
Seroka agreed — and also credited consumer spending and generally strong economic data.
Going forward in the next few months, Seroka said, the numbers can be expected to drop and settle in, but overall, the year ahead looks positive.
“2024 will see a better year for cargo flow than we saw in 2023,” Seroka said. “We’re a little more normalized.”
January cargo numbers at the Port of Los Angeles totaled 855,7652 twenty-foot equivalent units (or TEUs, the industry’s measuring standard), making it the “second-best start to the year on record.”
The Port of Long Beach moved 674,015 TEUs in January.
It was the fifth consecutive monthly year-over-year increase in the Port of Long Beach following 13 months of declines in cargo movement at the port.
“We are ready to grow our volumes, Cordero said, “and hope to see continued growth through 2024 as we gradually recapture market share.”
While the latter months in 2023 saw cargo begin to grow once again, that…
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