Los Angeles’ first-quarter volumes up 4.6 percent

   The Port of Los Angeles reported Thursday its first-quarter volumes increased 4.6 percent year-over-year to 2,208,733 TEUs, which included a 12.7 percent spike in March to 650,977 TEUs.
   “Despite global trade uncertainties, we experienced strong first quarter growth,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka in a statement.  “Retailers are forecasting an uptick in summer consumer demand and we are ready for those boxes.”
   The Global Port Tracker predicts monthly U.S. retail imports to reach nearly 2 million TEUs in August, which would be the busiest month since October.
   March, however, was the Port of Los Angeles’ slowest month of the first quarter in terms of volume, but its loaded imports in the month still grew 12.4 percent year-over-year to 297,186.95 TEUs. The port handled volumes of 852,449 TEUs in January and 705,306 TEUs in February.
   The ports of Long Beach and Oakland also recently released their first-quarter totals. Oakland experienced a 4.2 percent growth through the first three months of 2019, while the Port of Long Beach blamed “the looming threat of escalating tariffs” for a 4.7 percent year-over-year decline, which still represented its second-busiest first quarter in history.