Port Briefs: POLB Trade Cools and Midyear Container Shipping Report

Trade Cools in June at the Port of Long Beach

LONG BEACH — Trade moving through the Port of Long Beach or POLB cooled in June as retailers continued to clear warehouses.

Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 597,076 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month, a 28.5% decline from June 2022, which was the Port’s busiest June on record. Imports were down 34% to 274,325 TEUs, while exports declined 18% to 94,508 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the Port decreased 25% to 228,243 TEUs.

“We are hopeful to obtain a greater percentile of market share,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “We remain confident that our reliability, efficiency and unparalleled service will attract additional trade and economic activity to our Port.”

A POLB press release indicated that economists report consumer spending exceeded expectations during the first half of 2023 and may flatten out through the rest of the year.

The Port has moved 3,732,676 TEUs during the first half of 2023, down 25.5% from the same period last year.

Midyear Container Shipping Report:  Economy, Consumer Trends and Logistics Shifts are Impacting the 2023 Peak Season

The Journal of Commerce reported July 13, US containerized imports are showing signs of stabilizing, if not yet showing a rebound, as supply chain trends return to some semblance of new normal following the dramatic two-year, pandemic-driven surge in imports and consumer demand. Total US imports hit nearly 2.1 million TEUs in May, according to data from PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Although that was the highest total monthly import volume this year, it was still down more than 20% from the same month in 2022, continuing a streak of year-over-year double-digit declines that started last November. As the trans-Pacific prepares to enter its busiest quarter of the year, the question now is whether this period is a correction that will lead to increased stability, or whether further receding will occur. For now, the peak season is shaping up to be dull — according to a recent CNBC survey, retailers expect a weak holiday season, marked by heavy discounting, an indication that holiday-related imports could be weak through the summer-fall peak season.