by Calculated Risk on 6/15/2012 03:01:00 PM
Friday, June 15, 2012
LA area Port Traffic: Imports down YoY, Exports mostly unchanged in May
The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container).
Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and possibly some hints about the trade report for May. LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic.
To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12 month average.
Click on graph for larger image.
On a rolling 12 month basis, inbound traffic is down about 0.2%, and outbound traffic is unchanged compared to April.
In general, inbound and outbound traffic has been moving sideways recently.
The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports).
For the month of May, loaded outbound traffic was down 2.4% compared to May 2011, and loaded inbound traffic was unchanged compared to May 2011.
This suggests imports from Asia might be down a little in May, and exports mostly unchanged. (Note: the dollar value of oil imports will be down in May too, so the trade deficit should decline).