Long Beach volume jumps in January

   Southern California’s two ports saw divergent trends in cargo volumes in the first month of 2013, according to figures released Thursday.
   Long Beach saw total January volume climb 17.5 percent year-on-year to 536,263 TEUs, including a 19.5 percent jump in loaded import volume to 273,918 TEUs.
   Los Angeles, meanwhile, saw total volume drop 4.3 percent in January to 669,000 TEUs, with loaded import volume down 5.3 percent to 337,428 TEUs.
   Export cargo fell 5.4 percent at Los Angeles to 159,257 TEUs, while it climbed 8.2 percent in Long Beach to 126,714 TEUs.
   Taken together, total volume through the neighboring ports rose 4.3 percent to more than 1.2 million TEUs.
   January’s figures continue a trend seen at the tail end of 2012, where Long Beach volume grew and Los Angeles’ stagnated, aided by the shift of some services from terminals in Los Angeles to those at Long Beach.
   One thing to note when considering the volumes is that the Lunar New Year fell in January in 2012 but was on Feb. 10 this year. Volumes tend to grow in the weeks preceding the holiday, and are lower than normal during the week of the holiday. – Eric Johnson