The number of shipments coming through the country’s busiest container port complex in Los Angeles is significantly higher from the first half of the year, reflecting a boom in business and change in consumer habits.
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, appeared on CNBC on Monday, saying that cargo volume increased by 50% in the second half of 2020 from what arrived at the port in the first six months of the year. sea waiting for a dock to open.
“This is all the change in the American consumer,” Seroka said on “Power Lunch.” “We do not buy services, we buy goods.”
The increase in deliveries has put pressure on the seaport supply chain, which is managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department. This is a stark contrast to spring when volume declined when the coronavirus pandemic plunged global economies into a recession.
As retailers see an increase in online orders and e-commerce in the home-based world, this has led to long delays in unloading ships at ports across the country and a shortage of desired warehouse space.
Seroka said the port expects the increase in demand. The port in Southern California has been the busiest container port in North America for the past two decades, welcoming 17% of all U.S. cargo.
In November, the Port of Los Angeles recorded 890,000 20-foot delivery units shipped through its facilities, a 22% increase from the same month a year earlier, driven in part by holiday orders. Imports from Asia are reaching record levels, the port authority said. Meanwhile, exports to the port have declined in 23 of the past 25 months, partly to blame for trade policy with China.
“In addition to trade policy, it is the strength of the US dollar that makes our goods a little more than they would otherwise be for competing countries in the same product categories,” Seroka said. “And right now, the most striking statistic is that we’re returning twice as many empty boxes as our US exports are over our docks.”
The monthly cargo volume has averaged nearly 930,000 in units equivalent to 20 feet since August, something Seroka calls ‘unusual’ late in the year. The activity is expected to last several more months.
Seroka said the port has focused on digitizing operations to optimize shipping schedules and logistics.
“The harbor is tense,” he said.