Americas News
Record December Imports for Port of Long Beach
Port of Long Beach (PoLB) in the U.S. said today that December cargo imports at the port hit 295,579 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) as more ocean carriers added services to the port.
The volume was their highest-ever level for a December, with a gain of 18.9 percent year-over-year, while total cargo volume - including imports, exports, and shipments of empty containers - was up 9.8 percent.
"Business at the Port of Long Beach is clearly on the upswing as the economy strengthens and international trade continues to support hundreds of thousands of jobs in Southern California alone," said J. Christopher Lytle, executive director of the Port of Long Beach.
For the full 2012 calendar year, 6.05 TEUs moved through the port, a 0.3 percent drop from 2011, with traffic particularly slow earlier in the year.
More ocean carriers, including CMA CGM and MSC, added services to the port in recent months, which also boosted traffic to the port in November.
The port is two years into a 10-year, $4.5 billion effort to upgrade its facilities, and it has made recent improvements to security and reduced emissions.
