Port of Long Beach posts 16.6% drop in box volumes

The Southern California port’s box volumes declined considerably after South Korean ocean carrier Hanjin filed for bankruptcy Aug. 31.    The Port of Long Beach said Wednesday it handled 546,805 TEUs in September, a 16.6 percent decline from September 2015.
   The Southern California port attributed the sharp decline to reduced calls by Hanjin-operated ships, along with the absence of the South Korean carrier’s containers on vessels operated by fellow CKYHE Alliance Members – COSCO, “K” Line, Yang Ming and Evergreen Line.
   Hanjin’s containers had been accounting for about 12.3 percent of the port’s total containerized volumes.
   Containerized imports at the Port of Long Beach reached 282,945 TEUs in September, while containerized exports totaled 120,383 TEUs, year-over-year declines of 15 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. Volumes of empty containers during the month tumbled 27.2 percent from September 2015 to 143,476 TEUs.
   Meanwhile, the Port of Oakland in Northern California said Tuesday its box volumes slid 5 percent year-over-year in September to 187,540 TEUs, as the increase in loaded export volumes was not enough to offset the drop in loaded import volumes.