by Calculated Risk on 2/12/2018 01:12:00 PM

From the Port of Long Beach: Year Begins With Records in Long Beach

The new year brought a raft of records to the Port of Long Beach, where January container volumes reached an all-time high for the month.

Workers moved 657,830 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) through the harbor in January, 12.9 percent more than the same month last year. The total marks the first time Long Beach has surpassed 600,000 containers in the month of January. The quick start to 2018 comes after officials recently announced that 2017 was the busiest year in the Port’s 107-year history, reaching 7.54 million TEUs.

“The pre-Lunar New Year surge is definitely here,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero, taking note of the upcoming two-week holiday period in Asia, the Port’s primary trading partner. “Since this year’s holiday begins Feb. 16, we anticipated a busy January and February, as cargo owners seek to get goods shipped ahead of the festivities.”

CR Notes: The timing of the Chinese New Year always impacts traffic I'll have more on the LA area port traffic once Los Angeles releases their January statistics.