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Container traffic through California's twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach climbed 24 percent last month, compared to the year-ago period - the highest level for LA since August 2006 and for Long Beach since November 2007.
The latest monthly statistics from the important West Coast ports, which account for about 40 percent of US inbound container traffic, provide some fresh evidence that the slow economic recovery has continued in advance of the key fall shipping season, reported Dow Jones Newswires.
The statistics from both ports were buoyed by substantial increases in empty containers, as shippers continued to return large numbers of empties to Asia to address capacity shortages.
Empties through Los Angeles climbed 56.6 percent in August, to 217,077, compared to the year-ago period. Long Beach empties were up 54 percent, at 173,723.
But loaded inbound containers were up nearly a quarter at both ports, indicative of increased demand for imports. They numbered 399,150 at Los Angeles, the highest number in two years, and 311,240 at Long Beach, the highest since October 2007.
Loaded outbound containers, meaning exports, slumped a bit at both ports. August outbound containers were off 1.8 percent at the Los Angeles port, at 147,608, and 3.5 percent at Long Beach, coming in at 126,039.
Overall, however, the total 763,837 containers through the Los Angeles port last month was the highest monthly total since 790,726 in August 2006. The 611,002 at Long Beach was the highest since 611,608 nearly three years ago.
Hubert Wiesenmaier, executive director of the American Import Shippers Association Inc., said such figures are indicative of an improved back-to-school and preholiday shipping season so far this year.
"So far it's good news, but a lot of people, myself included, would like to see a longer timeframe to see that this trend is continuing," said Wiesenmaier, whose organisation represents apparel and footwear importers.
He characterised himself as cautiously optimistic, but noted substantial uncertainty among shippers and others regarding retail sales and the direction of the economy.
"We're in the middle of a peak [shipping] season right now," he said. "The question is how long it will last."
The National Retail Federation has predicted that July - rather than the traditional month of October - will turn out to be the 2010 peak for imported intermodal containers of consumer products and other goods through US ports.
The trade group, which aggregates data from many US ports, has said retailers appear to have stocked up early this year, partly to avoid possible shipping delays caused by capacity constraints later in the year.
Container traffic through the Port of Los Angeles is up 17.9 percent so far in 2010, compared to 2009, according to the August port data. Traffic is up 22.5 percent at Long Beach so far in 2010.
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