Good start for Long Beach
Following its historic peak year 2020 with 8.11 million teu handled, the Port of Long Beach has reported its busiest start of an annual year so far.
The port handled more than 764,000 Teu in January. Imports grew 17.5% to 364,000 teu, while exports climbed 7% to 116,000 teu. Empty containers headed back overseas increased 34.6% to 270,000 teu, an increase of 6.3% from 2019.
Throughout the full year 2020, imports crossing the Port of Long Beach rose 6.4% while exports totalled 1.48 million teu, up 0.2%, and empty containers increased 9.9% to 2.64 million teu. Thus, the port exceeded in 2020 the previous annual record set in 2018 by more than 22,000 teu.
Although activity typically slows down in February during overseas celebrations for the Lunar New Year, projections show that the running month could be busier than usual as unscheduled container ship calls continue to make up for voyages that were cancelled at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.
In his recent ‘state of the port’ address, executive director Mario Cordero honoured the dockers who lost their lives during the pandemic with a one minute's silence. He underlined that the port had remained fully operational and unshaken during the pandemic. (cd)