Seroka reports LA container volumes decline by 6% in July

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka told a press conference via Zoom that the Port’s July container volumes were down by 6.11% in July 2020 at 856,389 TEUs (twenty-foot container units) compared to 912,154 TEUs in 2019.

He said the year to date cargo volumes, comparing January to July 2019 with January to July 2020, has declined by 15.3% in 2020. In 2020, the year to data container volume is 4,618,278 compared to 2019 which was 5,450, 793.

Seroka went on to say that imports for July 2020 are down by 4% at 456,029 compared to July 2019 at 476,438 TEUs.

• Year to date January to July 2020 imports are down 12.1% in 2020 at 2,406,662 TEUs compared to the same period in 2019 where the Port handled 3,213,143 TEUs.
  
• Exports were down 21.7% in July 2020, compared to July 2019.
  
• Year to date exports are down 18.3% in 2020 at 874,463 teus compared to 1,070,020 for the same year today in 2019.
  
• The volume of empty containers showed a January to July 2020 decline of 18.7% at 1,337,152 TEUs compared to 1,644,069 for the same period in 2019.
  

In others news, Seroka reported:

The Ports of Los Angeles saw a 4% decrease in imports in July while the national decline at other ports showed a 3% decline indicating the Port is still losing market share to U.S. port competitors.

Seroka announced that environmental upgrades will commence at the Port’s China Shipping Terminal following final approval by the Los Angeles City Council.

Seroka said, despite complaints from some maritime stakeholders, the Port was not backing away from the goals of its Clean Air Action Plan to implement zero emission trucks and terminals. Recently, a number of maritime stakeholders sent a letter to the California Legislature complaining about the high cost of doing business at California ports. They said these high costs resulted in a loss of market share to East and Gulf Coast ports and cited California clean air mandates as one high cost.

The Port signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the California Manufacturers & Technology Association: “The agreement will assist in managing and streamlining the supply and provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the current Covid-19 pandemic additionally the memorandum of understanding also calls for a greater cooperation between the CMTA on promoting exports of our manufactured goods made right here in California.”