Port of Los Angeles confirms drop in shipments in November, says small vessels to blame

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The Port of Los Angeles is on track for a record year even as cargo volumes have declined in recent months. Exports hit their lowest level in 17 years.

The final numbers have arrived! The Port of Los Angeles today announced finalized cargo volumes for November, confirming an 8.8% drop in throughput from November 2020.

Total TEUs stood at 811,460, approximately 78,000 TEUs down from November 2020 and over 90,000 TEUs below September and October volumes. With the numbers for November, the Port of Los Angeles has now seen year-over-year declines in three of the past four months, with the exception of September.

Breaking down the November figures further, imports reached 403,444 TEUs, a drop of 13.2% from the previous year. Loaded exports fell 36.8% to 82,741 TEUs, the Port of Los Angeles’ weakest export volume since September 2004. Exports have now fallen by 33 in the last 37 months.

Empty containers, in high demand for trans-Pacific transit to Asia, rose to 325,275, an increase of 10.6% from a year ago.

The declining throughput figures come in a record year for the top US port for containerized imports. Even with recent declines, the Port of Los Angeles is still on track to process around 10.7 million TEUs, about 13% more than its previous record set in 2018.

Overall, 2021 imports are on track to reach an all-time high of around 5.5 million TEUs, 13% above the 2018 import record.

Echoing comments made last week when the preliminary figures were released, Executive Director Gene Seroka said the smaller container ships, which he says take almost as long to process as the bigger ones, contribute to the monthly decline from year to year. Half of the 86 container ships that arrived in November were carrying less than 5,300 TEUs, according to the port.

“As we approach a new freight milestone in the midst of this pandemic, I am so proud of the resilience of this port, our workforce and all of our partners,” Seroka said releasing the numbers. final. “While there is much more we need to improve, we are delivering record amounts of freight and the goods are reaching consumers and manufacturers.

“In 2022, we will continue to focus on improving efficiency, creating jobs and economic development,” Seroka said.

Eleven months after the start of 2021, the port has now handled 9,891,021 TEUs, or 18.7% more than the same period last year. Doing the math, the Port of Los Angeles expects to move around 809,000 TEUs in December, which would be down from the 879,186 displaced in December 2020.

In terms of congestion, the latest “KPIs” show the number of import containers at the terminal at 60,855, including 18,955 housed nine days or more, plus 76,000 other empty containers at the terminal and in controlled off-dock facilities. by the port. According to the “Pool of Pools” website, 40-foot container chassis remain on the streets (excluding terminals) for 9.3 days, up from a peak of 10 days.

Meanwhile, the backing of container ships stands at 91, of which 24 ships anchored or stray within 40 nautical miles and 67 outside the 150 miles.

Finally, container subsistence costs have been postponed for the sixth time until at least December 27.

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