Long Beach September box volume falls 2.9pc as LA posts 5.6pc hike

TOTAL container volumes of the US west coast container ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, also the two largest US ports, were mixed in September, with LA up 5.6 per cent to 745,000 TEU and LB down 2.9 per cent to 512,000 TEU.

LA also experienced its strongest single-monthly performance since August 2010, when overall volumes hit 764,000 TEU. Its September imports increased 3.4 per cent to 385,000 TEU year on year while exports shrank 2.6 per cent to 172,000 TEU. But empties soared 20 per cent year on year to 187,000 TEU.

Long Beach posted a 0.7 per cent year-on-year increase in imports to 265,000 TEU in September, while exports shrank 2.8 per cent at 115,000 TEU year on year, and empties dropped 9.4 per cent to 132,000 TEU.

Said a Long Beach spokesman: "For the calendar year so far, overall container volumes at the port are down 4.4 per cent because of the continuing weakness in the economy and the cutbacks in ship calls by several niche vessel operators at the end of 2011 and early 2012.

"Imports are down four per cent and exports down 1.3 per cent through September, compared to the same period a year ago," he said.

For Los Angeles, overall container volumes for the first nine months reached 6.2 million TEU, up 5.2 per cent compared to the volumes of 5.9 million TEU recorded in the same period last year.