Southern California’s two large ports, which are also the largest in the United States, each reported an ongoing surge in volumes during August and an expectation that volumes will continue to be strong. The ports believe that some cargo has been diverted while persistent strong consumer sales, a positive economy, and efforts to manage by importers, are all contributing to the increases in volumes.
Both ports had strong July results and even stronger August volumes. For Long Beach, it was the busiest month in the 113-year history of the port. Los Angeles came in just below its historic threshold of 1 million TEU reporting what it called “the busiest non-pandemic month ever at the port.”
The port executives varied on their views of the factors contributing to the continued strong increases in import volumes. They agreed it is a strong peak season while emphasizing that the ports have been successful in managing and have the capacity for further increases…