Long Beach feels pandemic impact in April
The waves of the measures against the Covid-19 pandemic continued to hit the US West Coast port of Long Beach in April. The port posted a throughput of almost 520,000 teu, down 17.3% from April 2019, which remains the port’s busiest April on record.
While imports decreased by 20.2% to approx. 254,000 teu, exports declined 17.2% to around 103,000 teu. Empty containers headed overseas decreased 12.2% to 164,000 teu. The port moved 2,203,000 teu during the first four months of 2020, 9.5% down from the same period in 2019.
While the port of Long Beach had only one cancelled sailing in April, there are more to come. The San Pedro Bay port complex is expected to see 48 vessel voyages cancelled from 1 April through 30 June – 16 of which are scheduled for the port of Long Beach.
The figures come on the heels of 61 cancelled sailings for the San Pedro Bay ports during the first quarter of 2020. Mario Cordero, executive director of the port of Long Beach, said: “We continue to collaborate with importers, exporters, terminal operators and labour to develop a recovery plan while ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of goods moving through our port.”(mw)