LONG BEACH INBOUND CONTAINERS ROSE 12.5% IN APRIL

LONG BEACH INBOUND CONTAINERS ROSE 12.5% IN APRIL    Amid signs of an upturn in the U.S. economy, shipping terminals at the port of Long Beach reported that their inbound container cargo climbed 12.5 percent in April, to about 227,900 TEUs.
   Loaded outbound container traffic increased by 14.8 percent to about 87,900 TEUs in April.
   It was the third consecutive month that exports from Long Beach have shown a percentage gain against last year’s export levels, the port reported.
   The number of empty containers that crossed the port’s docks increased by 8 percent in April, to about 94,200 TEUs.
   Total import and export container cargo reached about 410,100 TEUs in April, an increase of 11.9 percent over April of last year.
   “The percentage change in April continued the erratic pattern of the past seven months during which the port’s monthly percentage change has been up and down,” a spokesman for the port of Long Beach said. “March was a down month; April was an up month.”
   The announcement by the port of Long Beach that its inbound container cargo was up 12.5 percent in April follows a report by the port of Los Angeles that its volume of loaded inbound containers rose by 22 percent last month. Both ports also reported increases in export traffic.