Cargo Volumes Hit Record Volumes

The Port of Long Beach is having a great year—but it just got better. In June, cargo volumes were the highest in the port’s long history. Trade increased 14.2% year-over-year in June, with both imports and exports up, and increased 4.2% over the previous record-breaking month, July 2017. In total, the port moved 752,188 twenty-foot equivalent units in the month of June. “We’re obviously pleased to be handling record volumes, considering last year was our busiest ever. Since our cargo activity reflects consumer spending, we always expect our growth to be in line with the expansion of the overall economy,” Eric Bradley of the Port of Long Beach tells GlobeSt.com. “Through June, our volumes have exceeded those forecasts, increasing 14.5%, and we just finished our best second quarter ever.”

Many have expected new trade tariffs or even the talk of new trade tariffs to impact cargo volumes, but that has yet to happen. Likely, the impact won’t be seen for months, or even longer. “It will take a protracted period of tariffs for manufacturers of goods to make decisions that will have a noticeable effect on trade activity,” says Bradley. “The more likely short-term impacts will be higher prices for consumers. Big picture, we’ve seen trade disputes before, and in the past, parties have always worked out their differences and continue to participate in the global economy.”

The increased cargo volumes, not only in June but throughout 2018, are an indicator of a healthy economy, or at least a healthy consumer appetite. “Consumers are buying lots of goods, and retailers are responding to that,” adds Bradley. “Importers and exporters seem to be rushing their products to beat higher tariffs, boosting our volumes, but it’s something we can’t really measure here.”

Last year was previously the Port of Long Beach’s busiest year, but the strong performance this year will likely exceed last year’s cargo numbers. “The Port of Long Beach is seeing some of its busiest times ever,” says Bradley. “Last year was the busiest in our history, and cargo volume is on pace for another record in 2018. We expect steady growth of cargo for the next two decades, and we are continuing to prepare for that cargo flow.”