Consumer Demand Fuels Strong July at Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles processed 890,800 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in July, a 4% increase compared to last year. Last summer is when U.S. consumer purchasing began to build momentum and was the start of 12 consecutive months of year-over-year growth at the Port of Los Angeles.
July 2021 loaded imports reached 469,361 TEUs compared to the previous year, an increase of 2.9%. Loaded exports decreased 27.6% to 91,440 TEUs compared to the same period last year. It was the lowest amount of exports at the Port of Los Angeles since 2005.
Empty containers climbed to 329,999 TEUs, a jump of 20.4% compared to last year due to the continued demand in Asia.
Seven months into the 2021 calendar year, overall cargo volume is 6,318,675 TEUs, an increase of 36.8% compared to 2020.
Details: https://www.youtube.com/watch/strong-july
STAX Grant Pulled From Port Of Long Beach Agenda
LONG BEACH — A proposal to fund a controversial at-berth emissions capture-and-control system appears to be dead—at least for now—as the Port of Long Beach has reacted to issues raised at the August 5 Port of LA board meeting by dropping consideration of contributing funding from its August 23 board meeting. Both ports need to approve $333,334 funding for the project to proceed. POLA’s board deferred action on Aug 5, due to concerns raised by Jesse Marquez and Janet Gunter about the lack of experience of the grantee, STAX Engineering, the involvement of alleged stolen patents, and the questionable selection process conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the lead partner in a proposed alliance with the ports to secure a $9.5 million grant from the California Air Resources Board. The proposal was apparently dropped after POLB staff reviewed the recording of the POLA board discussion, which raised concerns about conflicts of interests at POLB as well. However, POLB declined to comment when asked about what had occurred.
More Empty TEU’s Exported
PORTS OF LONG BEACH/LOS ANGELES — As reported by The Loadstar, exports from the top 10 U.S. container ports slumped by 8.3% in July, compared with the same month of 2020, to 763,619 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), while imports gained 14.3% to 2,096,076 TEUs, according to data from Blue Alpha Capital.
The gap between import and outbound volumes at U.S. ports had widened in July to a new record ratio of 2.75x, compared with a 2.19x average in 2020 and 1.85x for 2019.
With import records on course to be broken again in August, the trade gap is set to widen further.
Blue Alpha Capital founder John McCown said the impact of tariffs on exports has combined with equipment shortages and action by carriers to hobble the nation’s export market.
Exports from the west coast hub ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach dropped by 27.6% and 20.7%, to 91,439 TEUs and 109,951 teu respectively, in July, while imports grew by 2.9% at the Port of Los Angeles, to 469,361 TEUs and by 1.6% at the Port of Long Beach, to 382,940 TEUs.
However, if the backlog of cargo on ships at anchor in San Pedro Bay awaiting berths were to be factored in, the import numbers would be considerably higher.
According to Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, July’s exports were the lowest since February 2005. Seroka said exports had declined in 29 of the past 33 months at LA, and that empty container exports were now running at more than three to one to loaded boxes.
Looking ahead, The Loadstar opined there seems to be no let-up in U.S. consumer demand for Asian imports. The port’s Signal forecaster of cargo destined for LA terminals predicts a year-on-year surge of 59% in volumes this week and 29% for the first week of September.
On Aug. 20, the Port of Long Beach announced the completion of the final phase of its Middle Harbor all-electric facility, which will increase throughput.
Despite the new facility at Long Beach, The Loadstar reported Blue Alpha Capital’s July throughput figures indicated the acceleration of shift from the highly congested U.S. west coast ports to the east. July’s single-digit 3.9% import growth for the west coast was dwarfed by the 27.7% surge for boxes arriving at U.S. east and Gulf coast ports.
Containers discharged on the east coast last month were recorded as 1,023,398 TEUs, against the 1,072,678 TEUs off ships that managed to berth on the Pacific coast.
This suggests the east coast container ports, with their capacity for growth, relatively uncongested berths and more reliable rail intermodal services, will eventually dominate — as long as demand remains elevated.
Details: https://gcaptain.com/at-port-of-los-angeles-more-boxes-leave-port-empty-than-loaded