Port of Long Beach Continues Winning Streak

California’s Port of Long Beach has recorded a strong cargo volume increase in November with 6.6 percent growth in container trade compared to the same month of 2014.

It was the fifth straight month of increases and enough cargo to rack up the second-busiest November in the port’s 104-year history.

A total of 619,699 container units were moved through the port last month. Imports were up 4.3 percent to 306,654 containers. Reflecting the U.S. dollar, exports fell 4 percent to 124,717 containers. Empties tallied 188,328 containers, a 19.5 percent increase over November 2015.

Upcoming post-holiday sales across the country drove the port’s strong cargo numbers.

“Thanks to our industry partners, we have had consistent gains throughout 2015 and are on track to move more than 7 million TEUs this year,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup.

Based on current projections for December, the port expects to surpass 7 million TEUs in 2015, which would be only the third time in its 104-year history. The other two times were in 2006 and 2007, when the Port of Long Beach reached 7.29 million and 7.31 million containers, respectively.

Through 11 months of 2015, the Port was 5.5 percent ahead of the same period last year.

During October, the port handled a total of 619,983 container units. Imports were down 0.8 percent to 307,995 containers. Exports increased by 6.5 percent to 128,308 containers.