The news continues to be good coming out of the Port of Long Beach — which has reported another single-month cargo record.
The port processed more than 800,000 cargo containers in October for the first time in its 109-year history, officials announced this week. The neighboring Port of Los Angeles is set to release its October numbers last month, but officials there said they also expects strong numbers.
The October numbers are part of a strong end-of-the-year showing, a sharp contrast to much of 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic led to mass shutdowns — first of factories in China and then businesses in the U.S. — that caused steep declines in business at both ports.
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, though, are on the rise again. So despite a strong three-month showing, port officials say they remain watchful.
“The peak holiday shipping season is supporting our ongoing recovery and record highs,” Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, said in a statement Thursday, Nov. 12. “But we are now facing a new wave of Covid-19 cases spreading across the country and remain locked in a trade dispute with China.”
Officials at both ports in October said they remain cautious when it comes to 2021 forecasts. But as the end of the year approaches, it’s been nothing but strong showings, with holiday season shipments peaking.
Dockworkers and terminal operators in the Port of Long Beach moved 806,603 twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard cargo measurement used, in October and broke the port’s “best month” record set the previous month by more than 11,000 TEUs. Trade was up 17.2% in October compared to the same month in 2019.
“The Port of Long Beach has a lengthy history of adapting to the needs of our customers,” Long Beach harbor commission President Frank Colonna said in a written statement, “during the best of times and the most difficult of times.”
The booming fourth quarter numbers have prompted some to label the holiday season as “shipaggedon,” according to the National Retail Federation.
Driving the end-of-the-year surge was companies needing to restock depleted store shelves, a reflection of a run on many items during the pandemic and also the uncertainty of retailers about the holiday season to come.
Then holiday shipments ramped up by the end of summer as retailers prepared early for what they expected to be an extended holiday season — amid ongoing concerns about possible shipping delays.
Halloween, despite the absence of the usual trick-or-treating and parties, still proved to be popular for decoration sales, the NRF said. And Christmas holiday displays and shopping also appear to be getting an early start.
Along with the specific holiday retail preparations, there also has been an overall rise in e-commerce and an increased demand for gardening equipment, pet supplies and musical instruments, the Long Beach port said, all indicators of the shifting needs during the pandemic, which has limited travel and other activities.
The Port of Long Beach saw 94 container ship calls in October, 18 of which were unscheduled vessels making up for voyages that were canceled earlier in the year.
The October figures also marked the third time in 2020 that the Port of Long Beach has broken an all-time record for cargo movements within a single month.
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November 14, 2020 at 04:01AM
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Port of Long Beach hits another record for cargo in October - Long Beach Press Telegram
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