Port Traffic Metrics: Houston, Long Beach, Los Angeles

 

Port Houston terminals handled nearly 35 million short tons of cargo through November, a 9.0 percent increase versus the same 11-month period of 2016, Executive Director Roger Guenther reported to the port authority’s governing committee at its December 13 meeting. 

 

Containers and steel imports are the major drivers of this year’s growth.  Steel imports to date totaled 3.7 million tons, a 57 percent increase. 

 

Container activity remains solid, showing a growth of 14 percent year on year and is expected to exceed 2.4 million TEUs this year, despite loss of time and labor hours caused by Hurricane Harvey. 

 

During that same meeting, the Port Commission approved the reissuance and amendment of Port Authority Tariffs Nos. 8, 14 and 15, covering the Turning Basin Terminal, Barbours Cut Terminal and Bayport Container Terminal, all effective Jan. 1, 2018. The commission also approved amending Port Houston’s agreement with Konecranes Finland to purchase one more diesel electronic yard crane, bringing to 10 the number of new yard cranes headed to Bayport Container Terminal. 

 

 

With just under one month left in 2017, container throughput at the Long Beach has already exceeded the port’s TEU total for all of 2016.

 

The November tally jumped 14.7 percent from a year ago to 612,659 TEUs, boosting the year-to-date total to 6,847,589 and an increase from January-November 2016 of 10.0 percent.  The full CY 2016 count came to just 6,775,170 TEUs.

 

Retailers making a last dash to stock goods for the holidays and after-Christmas sales helped imports surge 18 percent in November to 319,210 TEUs. Exports rose by 4.5 percent to 126,364 TEUs and empty containers by 17 percent to 167,085 TEUs. 

"Our focus on speed and reliability has positioned the port to have its busiest year ever," said Port Executive Director Mario Cordero. "I applaud all of our business partners for their contributions to our remarkable turnaround."

 

The latest monthly container statistics can be found here.

 

 

The Port of Los Angeles reports container traffic this November reached 924,225 TEUs, an all-time monthly record for a Western Hemisphere port.  Los Angeles’s previous record, 877,564 TEUs, was set in November 2016.

 

"Four vessels calling in Los Angeles each discharged and loaded more than 23,000 TEUs in November, all close to October’s 24,308 TEU record set last month in Los Angeles," said Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. "We’re proud to be partnering with our labor and supply-chain stakeholders to move these record-breaking cargo levels with efficiency, productivity and extraordinary customer service."

 

In detail, the November data reflect across the board TEU gains from a year ago for laden containers inbound (+6.1 percent) and outbound (+0.3 percent) and for empty containers (+7.4 percent).

 

The year-to-date count of 8,563,982 TEUs was up 6.3 compared to January-November 2016. Current and past container traffic data are available here.