Following a stellar year—2013 marked the Port of Long Beach (POLB)’s third busiest year in its history—the month of January proved flat for the port’s cargo volume.
Overall traffic at POLB dropped by 1.4% to 528,884 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) compared to last year; however, imports saw a rise of 2% compared to January, 2013.
Imports represented 279,415 TEUs. Exports, falling 3.4%, hit 122,411 TEUs while empties were down by 6.3% to 127,058 TEUs. According to POLB, exports and empties are usually down ahead of the Lunar New Year, which many East Asia countries—particularly goods movement powerhouse China—practically shut down all operations for two weeks. The holiday came on January 31 of this year.
“We look forward to continued progress in 2014, building on the performance of 2013. We expect to be back to peak cargo levels at the Port of Long Beach by 2015 or 2016,” said Dr. Noel Hacegaba, Acting Deputy Executive Director of the POLB in a release.
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