POLA Container Volumes Jump in April

By Zamna Avila, Assistant Editor
San Pedro — The Port of Los Angeles has released its April 2012 cargo volumes. POLA container volumes jumped 14.5 percent in April with balanced import-export growth. The volumes reflect the busiest April in Port history.

Imports increased by 16.7 percent, from 312,359 Twenty-Foot Equivalent (TEU) containers in April 2011 to 364,555 TEUs this April. Exports increased 11.5 percent, from 167,448 TEUs in April 2011 to 186,838 TEUs in April 2012.

Combined, total loaded imports and exports for April increased 14.9 percent, from 479,808 TEUs last April to 551,393 TEUs in April 2012. Factoring in empties, which increased 13.3 percent year over year, overall April 2012 volumes (707,182 TEUs) increased 14.5 percent compared to April 2011 (617,272 TEUs). Those figures reflect the busiest April in Port history, surpassing April 2007 volumes of 679,575 TEUs.

For the first four months of 2012, overall container volumes have increased 6.1 percent (2,582,003 TEUs) compared to the same period in 2011 (2,433,499 TEUs). Current and past data container counts for the Port of Los Angeles may be found at:
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp