Report: L.A.-Long Beach rebound to take time

Report: L.A.-Long Beach rebound to take time    A report commissioned by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles suggests that container volume recovery at the embattled ports won't come before 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
   The report, conducted by consultant the Tioga Group and IHS Global Insight, forecasts that the twin ports — together the largest U.S. container gateway — won't again reach the record 15.8 million TEUs they handled in 2006 for four more years.
   'The plummeting values of homes, stock portfolios and other assets is expected to result in a permanent reduction in wealth and a concomitant reduction in disposable income,' the report said. 'Absent a phenomenal rebound (which no one is predicting), the U.S. population will have less to spend on imports in any given year than was previously forecast.'
   That's particularly important for the Southern California ports, which not only served as the ports of choice for regional demand, but also for more than 7 million TEUs worth of goods destined for inland points at their high water marks. Through July, though, volume was down 15.9 percent, to 3.77 million TEUs, at the Port of Los Angeles and 26.8 percent down at Long Beach, to 2.77 million TEUs.
   The report also said increasing competition from other port complexes on the West Coast, as well as the widening of the Panama Canal, will put pressure on Los Angeles’ and Long Beach’s volumes.