Some 434,731 20-foot containers made their way through the portlast month, compared to the previous record of 409,979 containersin July. Last month's volume was up a strong 8.9% from a yearearlier.

Port officials credited the strong shipping pace to thecontinued recovery of Asia's economy and strong domestic demand forimported goods. The Long Beach report comes just two days after thenearby Port of Los Angeles said it set an American record by moving464,045 containers in August, up a staggering 33.3% from a yearearlier.

The strong import-export activity at both ports has fueled aboom in construction of office and industrial projects in the SouthBay. But despite all the new projects, the area's industrialvacancy factor has dropped below 4% and rents for warehouse anddistribution space have jumped by more than 10% over the past year,brokerage reports say.