Last month, the nation’s busiest seaport handled 47 percent more cargo than it did the same month a year ago, moving 799,315 TEUs in February, its busiest February on record, according to new numbers released Tuesday.
The port moved 412,884 TEUs in loaded imported goods, a 52.9 percent year-over-year increase, while handling 101,208 TEUs in exports, 24.7 percent less than February 2020. Empty containers, which continue to be in high demand in Asia, soared 104 percent to 285,223 TEUs.
“One year ago, global trade slowed to a crawl as the COVID-19 pandemic first hit China and then spread worldwide,” Port Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a statement. “Today, we are in the seventh month of an unparalleled import surge, driven by unprecedented demands by American consumers.”
The port’s challenges are now concentrated on vaccinating port workers and helping stakeholders manage this heavy flow of cargo, Seroka said.
“We will do everything we can to help get shipping lines back on schedule,” he said. “It’s critical that we clear the backlog of cargo and return more certainty to the Pacific trade.”
More information is available at https://www.portoflosangeles.org/business/statistics/container-statistics.
