Port of Long Beach Breaks Cargo Record for Second Consecutive Month

byKEELEY SMITH 

 

File photo. 

The Port of Long Beach (POLB) experienced its heaviest flow of cargo traffic for August in its 104-year history, the second month in a row that it has recorded such a record, the port announced yesterday.

Cargo traffic for August of this year increased by 22.8 percent over the same month in 2014, just after setting an all-time record in July, according to POLB numbers. That month’s cargo traffic increased by 16.2 percent over July of 2014.

“Our partners once again have expressed their confidence in the Port of Long Beach and we thank them for their business,” said POLB CEO Jon Slangerup in a statement. “We have been working with all our stakeholders and the results are our best month ever.”

So far this year, the port has seen import gains in March, with 42.1 percent growth, April, with 7.3 percent, May, with 4.8 percent, July, with 18.4 percent and August, with 19.1 percent.

“We thank our partners for choosing the Port of Long Beach,” said Slangerup in a statement. “We’re building the port of the future by investing $4 billion in improvements because as the economy grows, we will grow. We have not seen volume like this in our entire 104-year history and that is the clearest sign that consumers are buying.”

According to the port, cargo numbers are up 5.4 percent compared to the first eight months of 2014.

Specifically imports increased by 358,262 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), a 19.1 percent increase over last year, and exports increased 9.1 percent to 138,765 TEUs over last year. Empty containers grew 41.1 percent over the same month last year, to 206,625 TEUs.

In July and August combined, a total of 1,393,896 TEUs moved through the port.