PORT TRAFFIC UP 29% IN JANUARY AT LOS ANGELES

PORT TRAFFIC UP 29% IN JANUARY AT LOS ANGELES    The port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the United States, handled 29 percent more containers in January, when some 519,000 TEUs moved across its docks.
   The latest monthly figure compares with a throughput of some 408,000 TEUs in January 2002.
   Loaded inbound boxes amounted to about 265,000 TEUs in January, up 26 percent.
   Loaded outbound traffic also increased strongly, to about 105,000 TEUs, an increase of 27 percent.
   The port handled about 148,000 TEUs of empty containers, 29 percent more than a year earlier.
   The traffic increases were affected by the transfer of Maersk Sealand from Long Beach to Los Angeles during the summer of 2002.