FILE PHOTO: Port of Long Beach

The Port of Long Beach reported its busiest month ever once more in October because the variety of twenty-foot containers dealt with topped 800,000 for the primary time in 109-year historical past of the port.

The Port of Long Beach, the nation’s second busiest port, stated October container volumes rose greater than 17% in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months, hitting 806,603 TEUs. The breaks the port’s earlier “best month” file set in simply September by greater than 11,000 TEUs, as imports proceed to surge.

“The peak holiday shipping season is supporting our ongoing recovery and record highs, but we are now facing a new wave of COVID-19 cases spreading across the country and remain locked in a trade dispute with China,” stated Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach. “We are optimistic about the gradual economic recovery while bracing for any shocks still to come.”

Trade Imbalance

The surge comes as retailers proceed to organize for the vacation procuring season, an increase in e-commerce and an elevated demand for gardening tools, pet provides and musical devices, in line with the Port of Long Beach.

Imports jumped 19.4% final month in comparison with October 2019 with 402,408 TEUs, highlighting the sturdy demand for merchandise from Asia, particularly China. Exports in the meantime continued to pattern under final 12 months’s volumes, falling 13.9% to to 114,679. Empty containers headed again abroad grew 31.8% to 289,517 TEUs as transport traces scramble to reposition empty containers again to Asia amid a rising container scarcity there.

The Port had 94 container ship calls in October, 18 of which have been unscheduled vessels that made up for voyages canceled earlier this 12 months.

October’s figures mark the third time in 2020 that the Port has damaged an all-time file for cargo actions inside a single month.

In July 2020, the Port processed 753,081 TEUs, surpassing the earlier single-month file set in June 2018 by almost 900 TEUs. The file fell a second time in September 2020, when the Port processed 795,580 TEUs. October 2020 surpassed the earlier month’s mark by 1.4%.

Year-to-date, the Port of Long Beach has moved 6,513,908 TEUs through the first 10 months of 2020, up 2.3% from the identical interval in 2019.

“Our string of recent records show that our persistence and ability to work with industry and workforce partners allowed us to continue growing amid a critical time for our nation,” stated Long Beach Harbor Commission President Frank Colonna. “The Port of Long Beach has a lengthy history of adapting to the needs of our customers during the best of times and the most difficult of times.”