Los Angeles-Long Beach report sluggish volumes for May

Los Angeles-Long Beach report sluggish volumes for May    Container traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach grew just 4 percent in May to 1.18 million TEUs, showing no signs of traffic ramping up at the largest U.S. port gateway complex for the peak season.
   The announcement of a subdued traffic at the busy southern Californian ports also coincides with reports that traffic is moving smoothly through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and that carriers are continuing to route more traffic via Pacific Northwest ports as an alternative to Los Angeles and Long Beach.
   In May, inbound loaded container traffic declined 13 percent to 313,027 TEUs in Los Angeles, and rose 19 percent to 288,031 TEUs in Long Beach. Their combined traffic of inbound full containers fell 1 percent to 601,058 TEUs in May.
   During the same month outbound loaded containers rose 4 percent to 105,220 TEUs in Los Angeles, and soared 25 percent to 106,034 TEUs in Long Beach. The southern Californian ports had a combined traffic of outbound full containers of 211,254 TEUs, up 14 percent. This continues the trend of increasing volumes in the U.S. outbound trade.
   Empty containers handled by Los Angeles and Long Beach rose 7 percent to 363,198 TEUs.
   Including loaded and empty containers, the total box throughput of Los Angeles declined 8 percent to 610,624 TEUs in May, while box traffic at Long Beach increased 21 percent to 564,886 TEUs.