While cargo volumes at the Port of Los Angeles dropped by 3% in May compared to the same period last year, current year data overall remains 18% ahead of 2023 after five months, port officials announced Wednesday.
As a part of a monthly briefing, Gene Seroka, executive director for the port, said workers processed 752,893 twenty-foot-equivalent units last month. Loaded imports landed at 390,663 TEUs, a 4.5% decline compared to May 2023, but loaded exports came in at 125,963 TEUs, representing an increase of about 24%.
The port processed 236,268 empty containers, a 12% decrease compared to May 2023.
“We continue our trend of strong, consistent volume that started at the beginning of the year,” Seroka said. “As we gear up for the second half of the year, our forecast indicates more robust activity on our docks throughout the summer.”
Seroka noted he will be traveling to Taiwan and China next week for meetings related to increasing cargo volume and reducing the port’s carbon footprint. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will co-sponsor a China-U.S. Green Shipping Corridor in Shanghai, a gathering with port leaders and other stakeholders to establish a global trade route to Southern California that uses low- and zero-carbon vessel fuels.
“More cargo. More jobs. And decarbonizing global trade,” Seroka added. “That’s our objective now, and into the future.”
Jared Bernstein, chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers, joined Seroka for the media briefing. He is responsible for providing economic advice to President Joe Biden, and help formulate domestic and foreign policy.
“So if Main Street’s doing well, Wall Street should follow, and the reason we’ve had a solid record on the economics of mainstream working families — the job market has been so strong,” Bernstein said. “We are far from out of the woods. We have more work to do. Prices are still to high. That is a great microcosm of what we’re trying to do — maintain the strength of the job market but putting downward pressure on prices.”