The Port of Long Beach informed that it achieved its best-ever first quarter, with marine terminals handling almost 1.9 million TEUs, from January through March. The quick start is 19.4% more than the first quarter of 2017, which is the Port’s busiest year ever.
The previous first quarter record that the Port of Long Beach had set was in 2007. March throughput reached 575,258 TEUs, an increase of 13.8% compared to the same month last year.
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Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero, stated:
Our March cargo jumped despite the shipping slowdown during the Lunar New Year holiday in China. One of the most encouraging signs throughout this surge in cargo last year and this year is the operational efficiency at our marine terminals. We are handling record levels of cargo with no delays.
Dockworkers moved 267,824 import TEUs in March, 7.3% more than a year ago. Exports grew 18.3% to 142,419 TEUs. The large number of imported goods demanded by American consumers, caused container ships hauled 165,015 empty TEUs overseas to be refilled.