SoCal box volumes continue to lag

SoCal box volumes continue to lag    The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach saw container volume slump significantly in October, in what is traditionally the final month of peak season through the country's major container gateway.
   Los Angeles' volume fell 8.3 percent to 647,000 TEUs in October while Long Beach saw an even more precipitous drop of 24 percent to 452,000 TEUs against volume in October 2008.
   For the year, volume at Los Angeles is down 15.4 percent to 5.6 million TEUs. At Long Beach, year-to-date volume is down 24.5 percent to 4.2 million TEUs.
   In some ways, October's meager numbers offer a better representation of how far volume has fallen at the Southern California ports, given that they compare this October to October 2008 — the month after the global economic crisis struck and demand for container shipping started to fall. Transpacific trade had been sliding since before the global financial meltdown hit in September 2008, with the credit- and mortgage-induced crisis in North America slowing container volume throughout 2008.
   The problem seems less acute in Los Angeles, with the port recording its largest volume of containers for the year in October, some 10.9 percent higher than in September.
   While Long Beach recorded its second-highest volume for the year in October, volume was only 2 percent higher than September and 7 percent lower than in August. For the year, Long Beach has handled 25 percent fewer containers than neighboring Los Angeles.