LOS ANGELES—For the fourth consecutive month, cargo volumes at the Port of Long Beach have fallen. October container volumes fell 6.2% year-over-year, after year-over-year decreases in July, August and September. The Port of Long Beach says that the decline is the effect of the Hanjin Bankruptcy, the world's seventh largest shipping line.
“In the last two months, we've seen some of the cargo that had been arriving on Hanjin ships to Port of Long Beach instead going on other ships to the Port of Los Angeles, and this was expected given the bankruptcy and the alliances,” Lee Peterson of the Port of Long Beach, tells GlobeSt.com. In October, the port moved a total of 581,808 TEUs with export TEUs down 1.2% and imports down 3.7%. Empty containers saw the largest drop at 13.8% or 158,327 boxes.
The port has pointed to the Hanjin Bankruptcy as the principal cause of the steady decline in cargo volumes, but the bankruptcy event occurred in late August while cargo volumes began dropping in July. Peterson, however, says that July and August had strong cargo numbers, despite decreases. “Before the bankruptcy, we simply had months that were down compared to the year before, because last year's July and August were record-breaking months for containerized cargo, and this year's July and August were good, but not that good,” he says.
As a result of the slowdown, the port will likely see a 4% to 5% decrease for the calendar year compared to last year. According to the port, those numbers almost entirely reflect the fallout from the Hanjin bankruptcy rather than a larger economic cause. “Long-term we expect that we will see cargo eventually to return and continue to slowly build in the Port of Long Beach,” says Peterson. “We don't really see broader economic effects, as most of the cargo we are not seeing is simply switching to the other side of the bay right now.”
LOS ANGELES—For the fourth consecutive month, cargo volumes at the Port of Long Beach have fallen. October container volumes fell 6.2% year-over-year, after year-over-year decreases in July, August and September. The Port of Long Beach says that the decline is the effect of the Hanjin Bankruptcy, the world's seventh largest shipping line.
“In the last two months, we've seen some of the cargo that had been arriving on Hanjin ships to Port of Long Beach instead going on other ships to the Port of Los Angeles, and this was expected given the bankruptcy and the alliances,” Lee Peterson of the Port of Long Beach, tells GlobeSt.com. In October, the port moved a total of 581,808 TEUs with export TEUs down 1.2% and imports down 3.7%. Empty containers saw the largest drop at 13.8% or 158,327 boxes.
The port has pointed to the Hanjin Bankruptcy as the principal cause of the steady decline in cargo volumes, but the bankruptcy event occurred in late August while cargo volumes began dropping in July. Peterson, however, says that July and August had strong cargo numbers, despite decreases. “Before the bankruptcy, we simply had months that were down compared to the year before, because last year's July and August were record-breaking months for containerized cargo, and this year's July and August were good, but not that good,” he says.
As a result of the slowdown, the port will likely see a 4% to 5% decrease for the calendar year compared to last year. According to the port, those numbers almost entirely reflect the fallout from the Hanjin bankruptcy rather than a larger economic cause. “Long-term we expect that we will see cargo eventually to return and continue to slowly build in the Port of Long Beach,” says Peterson. “We don't really see broader economic effects, as most of the cargo we are not seeing is simply switching to the other side of the bay right now.”
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