Exports Surge at Port, Imports Fall

The Port of Long Beach had a surge in cargo volumes this month.

LOS ANGELES—Exports at the Port of Long Beach surged in the month of August, up 14.8% from August 2015. While this was an impressive increase for exports, which have been anemic, it didn’t help the overall port numbers. Imports were down for the month 10.2%, producing an 8.9% year-over-year decrease in the overall port volumes for the second month in a row. In total, the harbor terminals moved 641,029 twenty-foot equivalent units in August.

We are well into peak season, and it looks like the port may underperform compared to last year, which was a record-breaking year. “We saw a decrease in import volume because August 2015 was the busiest month in our history,” Lee Peterson with the Port of Long Beach, tells GlobeSt.com. “Shipping lines may have shifted import cargo for the time being to Los Angeles, in order to maximize use of cargo space on ships.”