Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the US, is forecasting a 25% drop in container volumes in February, as a result from the major disruptions brought by the coronavirus outbreak in shipping trade all over the world.
Container ship operators have canceled 40 sailings at the Port of Los Angeles, from 11 February to 1st April, involving mainly ships from China, Port Executive Director, Gene Seroka, was quoted as saying in an interview.
That amounts to a little more than one-quarter of the overall number of ships that would typically call at the port during that time, he stressed.
The first quarter of this year I project that we’re going to be down 15% year-over-year, with a heavy bit of that related to the coronavirus,
…he said.
Meanwhile, the Port of Los Angeles moved 806,144 TEUs in January, a 5.4% decrease compared to last year; a mixed result brought by both tariffs and the coronavirus.
However, after 14 months of consecutive declines due to tariffs on US goods, exports increased 2.2% to 148,206 TEUs.
In a bid to boost competitiveness, the port announced last week collaboration with Port of Long Beach to strengthen collaborative measures in the areas of cargo movement efficiency, connectivity, workforce development, cyber security and metrics.
