Tariffs continue to impact cargo traffic at the Port of Long Beach, where volumes fell in June, in comparison to the same month in 2018. Last June was the busiest month in the Port’s 108-year history, and capped the busiest second quarter during the busiest year ever.
Namely, a total of 677,167 TEUs were processed at the Port of Long Beach in June, 10% less than last year. The performance was still the second-best June for the Port.
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Imports reduced 13.7% to 331,617 TEUs last month, while exports remained the same at 133,833 TEUs, 1% down. Empties loaded onto ships to fill with goods in Asia fell 9.1% to 211,718 TEUs.
In addition, the Port has moved 3.7 million TEUs during the first half of 2019, 6.7% off last year’s pace. Second quarter’s throughput was 1.9 million TEUs, a 8.7% decrease.
The story we saw develop in 2018 was retailers forwarding goods to beat tariffs. For 2019, it seems that the cargo is all here and warehouses are filled. That’s disrupting container movement and the growth we would normally see this time of year
said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero.
