Port of Long Beach’s cargo volumes remain relatively flat in 2011

Port of Long Beach

After a record year in 2010, containerized cargo traffic at the Port of Long Beach remained relatively flat last year due to the departure of one of its tenants. Remaining container terminals saw modest gains.

Port shipping terminals moved a total of 6.1 million TEU last year, a drop of 3.2% compared to 2010. Imports were down 3.3%, and exports declined 3.6%. California United Terminals, which vacated one of the port's seven container terminals in late 2010, accounted for roughly a tenth of the port’s overall container traffic.

Adjusting for CUT’s departure, the remaining six container terminals saw a gain of 8.1% in 2011. Imports were up 10.1% and exports climbed 7.8%. The Port of Long Beach remains a primary gateway for transpacific trade. In spite of the challenging economy, port tenants saw growth in 2011, underscoring the need to continue improving facilities to remain competitive.

The Port of Long Beach has more than $4 billion in capital improvement projects planned for the coming decade, including construction of the Middle Harbor Project, which will combine two existing terminals into a state-of-the-art container facility with double the capacity while reducing related pollution by half.

For the month of December, the port moved 509,944 TEU, a 2.6% decrease compared to the same period a year ago, a more modest decline after months of double digit drops. Imports were down 3.2% to 248,609 TEU, and exports were down 8.4% to 129,229 TEU.

Adjusted for CUT's departure, overall container traffic was up 1.7% in December in the remaining terminals compared to December 2010. Imports were up 1.8%, and exports were down 4.5% < Korea Shipping Gazette >