Last month was the second busiest in the Port's history.
The Port of Los Angeles handled 808,728 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in January 2018, the second-busiest January in the port’s history behind last January’s record of 826,640 TEUs. While a slight decrease compared to last January’s record, it’s significantly higher than the port’s most recent 5-year January average of 683,003 TEUs.
"After two consecutive years of record-breaking cargo, it’s encouraging to start 2018 with robust volumes,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “It’s only the seventh time we have eclipsed the 800,000 TEU mark in a single month, and we’re grateful to our supply chain partners for their continued confidence in our world-class infrastructure, innovative technology solutions and extraordinary customer service.”
Strong January volumes are due in part to retail stores replenishing inventories after the holidays, and cargo ships calling ahead of the Lunar New Year, when goods from Asia slow down considerably.
January 2018 imports increased 1.8 percent to 422,831 TEUs compared to the previous year. Exports decreased 7.6 percent to 150,035 TEUs while empty containers decreased 5.2 percent to 235,861 TEUs. Combined, January overall volumes were 808,728 TEUs, a 2.2 percent decrease compared to last year.
North America’s leading seaport by container volume and cargo value, the Port of Los Angeles facilitated $272 billion in trade during 2016. San Pedro Bay port complex operations and commerce facilitate one in nine jobs in the five-county Southern California region.