The Port of Long Beach in California recently announced that it moved 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units four months into 2018, which is about 17 percent above 2017’s record pace.
“Both imports and exports are beating expectations so far this year,” Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said. “For us, part of that is the shift of services we saw a year ago, but at least some of our strong growth appears to be a result of trade tensions as anxious shippers rush to get their cargo to overseas markets.”
Dockworkers handled 618,438 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) ion April, which reflects a 10.8 percent increase over April of 2017.
Further, imports moved through the port were 312,376 TEUs in April, 8.4 percent more than last April. Exports moved through Long Beach climbed 22 percent from a year ago April to 141,799 TEUs. Empty containers sent overseas to be filled with goods totaled 164,264 TEUs, up 7 percent from April 2017.
“The global economy has benefited from a slow yet robust economic expansion,” Harbor Commission President Lou Anne Bynum said. “As long as it continues we expect to play a big role since we’re a natural trade conduit between China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies.”
The Port of Long Beach is a gateway for trans-Pacific trade. It has 175 shipping lines and is connected to 217 seaports. It handles $180 billion in trade annually.