Exports continue to climb at California ports in July

Exports continue to climb at California ports in July California's three biggest ports reported continued increases in export volume during July, but those gains failed to offset continued declines in imports and empty boxes bound for Asia.
   The Port of Long Beach's container volume for July dropped 12.9 percent to 647,428 TEUs, compared to the year-earlier period. Neighboring Port of Los Angeles fared slightly better, reporting a 2.5 percent decline for the month to 716,319 TEUs. The Port of Oakland, California's third-busiest container port, saw cargo volume during dip 5.4 percent to 201,261 TEUs.
   Long Beach saw a 13.5 percent increase in loaded export boxes to 153,364 TEUs for the month. Loaded inbound boxes dropped 18.1 percent to 272,350 TEUs, while empties fell 23.3 percent to 137,989.
   The port has reported month-to-month declines for nine of the past 10 months. However the one non-declining month, December 2007, registered a statistically insignificant increase of 0.02 percent.
   Los Angeles port officials said loaded containers rose 5.7 percent to 541,147 TEUs. Outbound boxes were up 34 percent to 173,650 TEUs, while loaded inbound TEUs were off 3.9 percent to 367,496. Empties dropped 23.2 percent to 147,012 TEUs.
   July marks the 15th monthly decline in total container volume for Los Angeles in the past 17 months. The Los Angeles port has not recorded a monthly increase over 1 percent since February 2007.
   In Northern California, the Port of Oakland said total volume was down for July while the port saw increases in loaded containers. Loaded import boxes improved 5.6 percent to 74,471 TEUs in July, while exports rose 1.6 percent to 79,902 TEUs. Empties were down 13.1 percent.
   The three ports also saw declines for total volumes for fiscal/calendar years.
   Long Beach's total TEUs declined 7.3 percent to 5.61 million TEUs through 10 months of its fiscal year started Oct. 1. Exports are up 25.4 percent to 1.5 million TEUs, and imports are off 10 percent to 2.76 million TEUs. Empties are down 24.6 percent to 1.34 million TEUs.
   Los Angeles' total volume through the first seven months of 2008 was off 6.1 percent to 4.47 million TEUs.
   For the year to date, Oakland has handled 1.3 million TEUs down 2.8 percent over the first seven months of 2007. Imports are down 5.3 percent to 470,250 TEUs while exports rose 8.8 percent to 559,796 TEUs.
   If current trends continue through the end of the year, Long Beach port is likely to reclaim the title of 'busiest U.S. container port' from neighboring Los Angeles. Long Beach claimed the title from Los Angeles in 1995, holding it for five years before Los Angeles gained the No. 1 slot again in 2000.