Americas News
Ocean Carriers Bring Jump in Business to Long Beach
The Port of Long Beach (POLB) says container volumes were up sharply in November, compared with the same month last year, jumping 20.2 percent for imports and 24.6 percent for exports.
More ocean carriers, including CMA CGM and MSC, added services to the port in recent months, bringing the total container volume handled by the port's terminals to 55,513 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the month.
The rise in traffic came after declines earlier in the year, with POLB also being subject to recent strike action, and helped bring total port volumes for the first 11 months of 2012 about even with their 2011 level.
The total import traffic of 278,534 TEUs was the highest November volume in five years, while export traffic of 138,312 was the second-highest.
The port is two years into a 10-year, $4.5 billion program to improve its facilities.
POLB has said the 76-foot depth of its main navigation channel gives it a particular advantage with next-generation, large, fuel-efficient vessels, such as the MSC Beatrice, which visited Long Beach in September.
