Port of Los Angeles records 12.4% drop in February box volumes

The port attributed the 12.4 percent year-over-year decline in February box volumes to the timing of Lunar New Year, but volumes were still higher than the most recent 5-year average for February.    The Port of Los Angeles handled 625,381 TEUs in February, a 12.4 percent decline from record February 2016 volumes.
   The timing of Lunar New Year resulted in a significant amount of cargo being shipped in January instead of February, the port said.
   Lunar New Year, which began Jan. 28 this year, also resulted in lower volumes in February at the ports of Long Beach and Oakland compared to February 2016 figures.
   While loaded container imports at the Port of Los Angeles tumbled 19.8 percent year-over-year in February to 298,974 TEUs, loaded exports ticked up 6.1 percent from February 2016 to 155,357 TEUs.
   Empty container volumes in February fell 12.1 percent year-over-year to 171,048 TEUs.
   However, February 2017 volumes were 7.2 percent higher than the port’s most recent 5-year average of February container volumes.
   The Port of Los Angeles is called by 24 liner services – 23 that deploy fully-cellular containerships and one that deploys pure car/truck carriers, according to BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool.