As CNBC informs cargo is piling up in the Port of Los Angeles, as retailers have been front-loading products in light of the approaching tariffs. Following President Trump’s announcement on new tariffs of 10% on the remaining 300 billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China, the port saw an unprecedented increase of incoming cargo.
According to Steven Ferreira, CEO of Ocean Audit, from August 15 to 26, about 260,000 TVs were imported from China through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. He added that containers coming a month ahead from the scheduled date is a rare phenomenon; The only explanation is that retailers tried to avoid Trump’s tariffs on TVs, which will be imposed on December.
In addition, port of L.A.’s executive director, Gene Seroka, informed that from the first day of September, the 98% of Chinese goods coming to the port will be affected by the new round of tariffs.
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The trade war between the US and China has resulted to less trade between the two countries; CNBC reports that during the first half of 2019, exports from the U.S. to China fell 18% from the year ago period to $55 billion. Imports of Chinese goods to the U.S. fell 12% to $235 billion.
Following the newly-imposed tariffs, all the ship traffic that aspires to beat the tariffs results to record volumes at the port. Therefore, containers are pilling up and may result to congestion, the same one that the port experienced last year with the first round of tariffs.
Seroka added that the 2020 future is uncertain, and the industry awaits to see whether the tariffs will lead to a shock.
The companies are being very pensive at this point in time, waiting to see if there would be clarity for the future
… Seroka highlighted.
