The Port of Long Beach moved nearly 1 million containers in October, beating a record set just two months ago.
The surge was driven in part by importers diverting cargo to Southern California to avoid risk of delays from a labor dispute that shut every major port on East and Gulf coast for three days in early October. Other businesses have been bringing in goods to get ahead of the tariff increases promised by President-elect Donald Trump.
The Port of Los Angeles, which together with Long Beach account for roughly a third of all U.S. container imports, also beat pandemic records in Q3. Businesses are poised to continue bringing in larger volumes of goods through the end of the year, which is normally a quieter time for the ports. The dockworkers’ dispute is still unresolved and, if there’s no agreement before January 15, there’s a possibility of a second port strike at East and Gulf coast ports early in 2025.
“We anticipate a continued influx of cargo due to robust consumer demand, concerns about potential tariffs and ongoing labor negotiations at ports on the East and Gulf coasts” Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero said on November 14. The port is the second busiest in the U.S. behind Los Angeles.
Overall at the Long Beach port, cargo handlers moved 987,191 twenty-foot equivalent units in October, up 30.7% from the same month last year. The number of loaded import containers jumped 34.2% to 487,563, while exports rose 25.3% to 112,845 TEUs and empties grew 28.1% to 386,782 TEUs.
