The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest seaport, notched its second-highest volume for July, boosted by resilient demand for consumer goods and equipment for manufacturing and data center construction, its executive director said on Tuesday.
That demand should support another strong result for August, executive director Gene Seroka said.
Ocean container imports are an early gauge of U.S. economic activity and are closely watched by analysts and traders.
The Port of Los Angeles processed 960,464 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo last month, including 499,552 TEUs of imports, its data showed. Last week, the adjacent Port of Long Beach reported its second-busiest July after handling 928,508 TEUs overall, including 467,461 TEUs of imports.
"Based on what we're seeing today, we expect to handle more than 900,000 container units in the month of August," Seroka said on a call with journalists.
Seroka and other industry experts said peak season came early this year and that many holiday goods have already landed. Some retailers front-loaded goods because 10% global Section 122 tariffs expired in late July. After a period of uncertainty, those were replaced by new tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries tied to allegations of forced labor.
IMPORTS TO MODERATE
Still, Seroka said the current pace would not continue indefinitely. He pointed to a National Retail Federation forecast for strong imports in August, followed by gradual moderation through the end of the year.
The $120 billion global container shipping industry has historically relied heavily on goods for retailers, who accounted for nearly half of its volume and drove the industry's peak season ahead of the year-end holiday merchandise rush.
The industry's dependence on retailers appears to be shifting, experts say, as the U.S. and other countries race to fortify electric grids and build data centers to support AI.
"What is in the container is gradually changing," Vincent Clerc, CEO of Maersk, said on the second-largest container carrier's earnings call last week.
For years, a typical container from Asia was loaded with department store goods such as furniture, shoes, clothing and food, Clerc said.
Now the industry is moving Asian products tied to electrification and the race to build power capacity, he said. They include batteries, parts for solar panels, windmills and turbines; and cooling units for data centers.
(Reuters - Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Rod Nickel)