The ongoing rise in online spending by consumers, who continue to work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, has fostered greater throughput at the Port of Long Beach (POLB) which saw all-time record volumes in January.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]In particular, e-commerce led to a strong start of the year for POLB which handled more than 760,000TEU in January, which translates to a 21.9% increase from the same month last year, surpassing the previous record set in January 2018 by approximately 105,000TEU.
According to POLB’s data, the port’s imports grew 17.5% to 364,255TEU, exports climbed 7% to 116,254TEU, while empty containers headed back overseas increased by 34.6% to 270,221TEU.
“After the volatility with cargo volumes in 2020, we hope to see some stability and continued economic recovery over the next year as we remain focused on attracting business and building for the future,” commented Mario Cordero, executive director of the port, who went on to add, “We remain focused on the health and safety of our dockworkers as they continue to unload a record-breaking amount of cargo from a surge of container vessels calling at the port.”
The strong start to 2021 follows a record-breaking year for the Port of Long Beach with more than 8.1 million TEU moved in the previous year.
POLB also pointed out that although activity typically slows in February during overseas celebrations for the Lunar New Year, projections show that this month could be busier than usual as unscheduled container ship calls continue to make up for voyages that were cancelled at the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
Long Beach harbor commission president, Frank Colonna believes that POLB trade will be crucial for the economic recovery in 2021. “We’re staying the course by focusing on attracting business, growing our market share and continuing to build for the future,” he noted.
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