The Port of Long Beach reported Thursday that cargo volumes at the Port of Long Beach, one of the US’ most steel-centric ports, climbed in December due to the busiest-ever December for containerized imports, which rose 18.9 percent over the same period a year ago. Port terminals handled a total of 560,120 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) overall, an increase of 9.8 percent from December 2011. But December 2012 capped a surge that made up for the year's lackluster start, ending in a virtual tie with 2011.
The rise in container traffic came as more ocean carriers added services to Long Beach in recent months, including CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co., two of the world's largest container shipping companies.
Import container traffic rose to 295,579 TEUs, up from 248,603 in December 2011. Exports rose 4.9 percent to 135,561 TEUs for the month. Empty containers slowed 2.4 percent to 128,980 TEUs. With imports exceeding exports, empty containers are sent overseas to be refilled with goods.
For the full year 2012, the port moved a total of 6.05 million TEUs, down 0.3 percent from 2011. Imports were up 1.2 percent to 3.06 million TEUs. Exports were up 2.2 percent to 1.54 million TEUs.
