Photo courtesy of the Port of Long Beach.
The Port of Long Beach (POLB) announced Thursday that last month was the busiest March in the Port’s history, due to increased numbers after terminal operators and dockworkers finally agreeing to a tentative contract at the end of February. The second busiest March on record was in 2006.
Cargo increased 32 percent compared to the same month last year. A total of 630,084 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) were moved through the Port this March. Imports were recorded at 317,520 TEUs, a 42.1 percent increase from last year, while exports decreased 17.3 percent to 127,337 TEUs.
As congestion has eased, a great deal of empty containers were waiting to be shipped. The transport of empty containers increased in March 85.4 percent to 185,227 TEUs.
According to the POLB, March 2015 was the busiest month for containerized cargo since August 2013. However for the first three months of the year, cargo was recorded as down 3.3 percent, compared to the same period recorded in 2014.
For all the latest monthly cargo numbers, click here (http://www.polb.com/economics/stats/latest_teus.asp).