California ports had good March volumes

Both the mega-port of Los Angeles, and the Port of Oakland (California’s third largest ocean cargo gateway), issued positive reports this month.

Containerized trade is rebounding at the Port of Oakland after two months of decline. The port said that cargo volume in March increased 6.4 percent from a year ago. That’s a turnaround from a 31 percent decrease in January and February.

“We’re moving in the right direction again,” said Port Maritime Director John Driscoll. “But we’ve still got plenty of work to do to make up for a slow start to the year.”

Increased volume signals the likely end to trade slowdowns resulting from recent cargo backlogs at West Coast marine terminals. In February, only 35,923 import containers moved through Oakland. In March the figure jumped to 84,023.

Oakland’s March imports increased 39 percent over 2014 totals. Exports declined 16 percent.

The port said exports decreased because of the strong U.S. dollar, which made American goods less affordable overseas.

Exports were also constrained by vessels bypassing Oakland to recover time lost at congested Southern California ports. Those ships are now returning to Oakland, providing additional capacity for overseas cargo.

Meanwhile, March containerized cargo volumes at the Port of Los Angeles increased 17.3 percent compared to the same period last year. The port handled a total of 791,863 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), the second-highest month in the port’s history. The busiest single month was October 2006, when the Port moved 800,063 TEUs.

For the first three months of 2015, overall volumes (1,823,854 TEUs) are down 5 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

”March container volumes were robust as our terminals worked aggressively to clear out the backlog of vessels,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “The number of ships waiting at anchor has reduced significantly, labor levels are strong and our container terminals are extremely active. We continue to work on a series of initiatives to improve efficiencies throughout the supply chain.” 

Next week, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach will co-host stakeholders to discuss additional solutions to further optimize the San Pedro Bay supply chain.