7:30am | Container trade volume at the Port of Long Beach dropped 20.5% in October from a year ago due to a departure of a major operator and due to retailers taking a cautious approach to the holidays, according to a port report issued on Thursday.
Imports were down 20.8% and exports fell 21.4%, representing the largest overall percentage drop so far this year comparing monthly periods from a year ago.
This was the fourth straight month of declines at the port.
Port terminals handled 487,665 twenty-foot equivalent container units last month, compared with 613,621 TEUs in October 2010.
A portion of the decline in traffic was is being blamed on the departure of California United Terminals, which vacated one of the port’s seven container terminals last year. The operator accounted for roughly 10 percent of the port’s overall container traffic.
Despite signs that consumer demand may be rebounding across the nation, retailers appear to have taken a cautious approach for the upcoming holiday season, according to the port.
The 2011 holiday season forecast is for an average performance for retailers. On the heels of a holiday season that outperformed most analysts’ expectations, holiday retail sales for 2011 are expected to increase 2.8% to $465.6 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
While that growth is far lower than the 5.2% increase retailers experienced last year, it is slightly higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of 2.6%, according to the group.
“Retailers are optimistic that a combination of strong promotions and lean inventory levels will help them address consumer caution this holiday season,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement. “While businesses remain concerned over the viability of the economic recovery, there is no doubt that the retail industry is in a better position this year to handle consumer uncertainty than it was in 2008 and 2009.”
For October, import containers accounted for 240,248 TEUs compared with 303,168 TEUs in the same period last year. Export containers hit 118,325 TEUs compared to 150,581 TEUs in October 2010. Empty container moves also were down. The port moved 129,092 TEUs of empty containers in October, down 19.3% compared to the same period last year. Most empty containers are bound overseas.
After experiencing record gains in 2010 and continued growth in the earlier part of the year, imports are down 2% and exports are down 1% for calendar year to date.