H1 container throughput at Los Angeles, Long Beach ports drop 11% on year

New York — Container throughput at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell by 11% year on year in the first half of 2020, and could face a sharper decline later this year as the global coronavirus outbreak continues to hamper trade.

Throughput at the two adjacent Southern California ports was 6.59 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from January to June 2020. The Port of Los Angeles handled 3.76 million TEUs while the Port of Long Beach handled 2.83 million TEUs in the six-month period.

"Given the circumstances of an unresolved trade war and an ongoing pandemic, our June and mid-year cargo volumes are in line with our forecasting," said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.

Los Angeles and Long Beach are the first and second busiest ports in North America by container throughput and the primary gateway for goods flowing from China to the US.

Container throughput at the Port of Los Angeles increased to 691,475 TEUs in June from 581,665 TEUs in May, but were down by 9.6% from June 2019. Total container imports were 369,257 TEUs last month while exports were 322,319 TEUs.

"A very important indicator for us is the movement and repositioning of empty containers," Seroka said at a news conference. "We are starting to see the evacuation of empties to prepare for a modest increase in imports in the months to come."

But total 2020 container throughput at the Port of Los Angeles is expected to come in below eight million TEUs, a drop of about 15% from 2019 as a result of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak to US consumer demand, Seroka said.

Container throughput at the Port of Long Beach in June was 602,180 TEUs, down from 628,205 TEUs in May and a drop of 11% from June 2019. Total container imports were 300,714 TEUs last month while exports were 117,538 TEUs.

Canceled sailings are projected to significantly recede as the traditional holiday peak shipping season ramps up during the third quarter, the Port of Long Beach said.