LONG BEACH CONTAINER TRAFFIC UP IN OCTOBER

LONG BEACH CONTAINER TRAFFIC UP IN OCTOBER    Southern California’s Port of Long Beach handled 434,866 TEUs of inbound and outbound containerized cargo in October, an increase of 0.5 percent over October 2000, which made it the highest October total in the port’s 90-year history.
   In October, the port’s terminals moved 238,184 TEUs of inbound containers, a 1.1 percent increase from October 2002. Long Beach’s imports included mostly holiday merchandise, such as clothing, toys, consumer electronics, shoes and household goods.
   Export containers, however, fell 7.1 percent to 82,255 TEUs in October. Exports included mostly factory equipment and raw materials, such as plastics, chemicals and wastepaper. “While the October export total is higher than the September figure, October marked the 12th consecutive month in which the export total dropped in comparison with the same month a year ago,” port officials said.
   The impact of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th are still unclear to port officials. “The orders for the shipments in October were probably in the pipeline before Sept. 11,” said Richard D. Steinke, executive director for the Port of Long Beach. “So our outlook for the next few months, and for the world economy in general, is very uncertain.”