The Port of Los Angeles marked its third-largest September on record in terms of container volume. Last month, 763,785 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) moved through the port, up slightly from last September.
“As we enter the final quarter of 2017, we’re pleased to be tracking toward record volumes for a Western Hemisphere port,” said Port of Los Angeles Director, Gene Seroka. “We continue to demonstrate the LA Advantage to cargo owners, with a strong focus on meeting big-ship needs, developing world-class infrastructure, and delivering extraordinary customer service through innovation and efficiency.”
For the month of September, the Port of Los Angeles had 88 vessel visits with an average TEU count of 8,679 per vessel, a new port record. This represents a 22 percent increase from last September’s TEU-per-vessel average.
Empty containers drove up overall volumes last month due to trade policy changes impacting waste paper exports to China. Loaded imports decreased .07 percent to 388,670 TEUs compared to September 2016. Loaded exports also decreased 3.17 percent to 517,116 TEUs. Those figures, coupled with a 15.45 percent increase in empty container traffic, delivered overall volumes of 763,785 TEUs, a 2.15 percent increase compared to last September.
Through September 2017, cargo volumes are 6.9 million TEUs, an increase of 8.2 percent compared to the same period in 2016, which saw a record-breaking 8.8 million-TEUs for the total year. Current and past data container counts for the Port of Los Angeles may be found here.