LOS ANGELES: West Coast ports may not be seeing the resurgence some at the country’s largest trade gateways had expected.
Inbound container volume at the Port of Los Angeles fell 3.5% year-over-year in July, a contrast with record results neighboring Long Beach reported in the month, according to figures released Friday.
The steep decline at the largest container port in the U.S. left combined inbound volume at the two ports up 5.4% from the same month a year ago, relatively slim expansion heading into the peak fall shipping season.
The inbound container volume at the ports generally has been an important indicator of retail industry confidence in the back-to-school and coming holiday sales season. But labor strife at West Coast ports over the past year muddied the picture for the port business as many big importers shifted their goods to Gulf Coast and East Coast ports.
Los Angeles handled 350,628 loaded import containers and 136,402 in export containers in July—a decline in overall loaded container volume of 7.5% from last July. For the year so far, total volume was down 3.5% from 2014.
