Port Starts 2026 Leading Nation in Trade

The Port of Long Beach kicked off the new year as the nation’s busiest seaport, marking its second-busiest January on record, Port CEO Dr. Noel Hacegaba announced March 11 during a virtual media briefing.

Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 847,765 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo containers last month, down 11% from January 2025, which remains the port’s best January and second-busiest month in its 115-year history. Imports were down 13.1% to 409,818 TEUs and exports rose 0.8% to 99,478 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the port declined 11.5% to 338,470 TEUs.

“We are leading the nation in trade, and providing a safe harbor in the sea of tariff and trade uncertainty for our customers and the goods movement industry,” Hacegaba said during the first of his monthly Supply Chain Insight virtual media briefings. “No matter what happens with cargo volume, the Port of Long Beach has the capacity, infrastructure and workforce to move goods quickly, efficiently and reliably.”

The decline in cargo volume follows a record-setting year of 9.9 million TEUs moved in 2025, when uncertainty prompted shippers to move goods before tariffs and reciprocal tariffs were implemented last spring. 

Hacegaba said he anticipates continued uncertainty following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week declaring two-thirds of tariffs imposed last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, unconstitutional.