The Two Major Ports In The United States And West Achieved Continuous Year-on-year Growth In Cargo Volume

    The Port of Los Angeles (LA) and the Port of Long Beach (LB), the two largest ports in the United States, have released data for April this year. Data show that the container throughput of the two ports has continuously achieved year-on-year growth.

Container throughput at the Port of Los Angeles rose 11.9% in April from a year earlier, the ninth consecutive month of growth

    Container throughput at the Port of Los Angeles reached 77,000 TEU in April, up 11.9% from a year earlier and the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Among them, imported heavy containers increased by 21.3% to 417,000 TEU, and exported heavy containers increased by 50.8% to 133,000 TEU. In addition, the number of empty containers passing through the Port of Los Angeles decreased by 14.0% to 22.0 million TEU.

    In the first four months of 2024, the Port of Los Angeles container throughput reached 3.151 million TEU, an increase of 24.8% over the same period last year. It is also 5% higher than the five-year average since 2019, which included a record two years during the pandemic.

    Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said in a media briefing that "all important operational statistics for the Port of Los Angeles are at or better than pre-pandemic levels." I have been urging shippers to use our terminals and excess capacity. As we head into the second half of 2024, we are ready to upgrade based on demand."

    Daniel Hackett of Hackett Associates joined the media briefing to analyze imports at 16 major container ports in North America and share his thoughts on the growth of cargo volumes at U.S. West ports over the past year, as well as his outlook for the traditional "peak season" this year. He expects cargo volumes to remain strong throughout the peak shipping season, although the year-on-year growth rate may be somewhat lower in the second half of 2024 (mainly from a high base). Growth rates in the U.S. West have increased significantly compared to the U.S. East and U.S. Gulf ports, a trend that is expected to continue.

Cargo volume at the Port of Long Beach rose 14.4% in April from a year earlier, the eighth consecutive month of growth

    The port of Long Beach handled 754,000 TEU of containers in April, up 14.4% from a year earlier. Among them, imported heavy containers increased 16.3% to 365,000 TEU, while export heavy containers decreased 19.9% year-on-year to 98,000 TEU. In addition, the number of empty containers passing through the Port of Long Beach increased 30.7 percent to 287,000 TEU.

    The Port of Long Beach said trade momentum was strong in April, which also marked the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year increases in cargo volume at the port.

    In the first four months of 2024, container throughput at the Port of Long Beach reached 2.753 million TEU, an increase of 15.8% over the same period last year.

    Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said, "We continue to work with industry partners to rebuild our market share, and imports are steadily climbing." We are strengthening LB Port's competitiveness through operational excellence, customer service and continued infrastructure investment."

    "We thank the terminal operators, truckers, longshoremen and all of our supply chain partners for their hard work that has made us the port of choice," said Bobby Olvera Jr., president of the Port of Long Beach Commission.