Los Angeles and Long Beach import traffic down 16-19% in September
In another sign of how deep the global recession has become, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have reported their worst combined import statistics for September in nine years.
September is often the busiest month at the nation's biggest port complex, the Los Angeles Times reported, making it one of the best barometers of the health of the economy and international trade.
The port of Los Angeles received 309,078 containers packed with imported goods in September, representing a decline of 16 percent from the same month last year and 27 percent from September 2006, LA's best month ever for imports. Long Beach received 224,924 import containers in September, a drop of 19 percent from a year earlier and 32 percent from September 2007, the port's best September ever.
For the first nine months of the year, imports, exports and empty containers through the port of Los Angeles were down 16 percent at just under five million containers while the Long Beach port saw a decline of nearly 25 percent at just under 3.7 million containers, compared with the same period last year.
Kathryn McDermott, deputy executive director of business development for the Port of Los Angeles, said there was a 10 percent discount on the rate that customers normally had to pay to move containers through the port. She added that the port's Infrastructure Cargo Fee had been postponed indefinitely "until we are sure that we need it."
"We have had customers ask us for help and we have looked very carefully at what we can do," said McDermott, who said the reductions amounted to about US$20 million in relief. "The majority of them said that we really needed to look at our discretionary cargo, business that could go through other ports. These changes are aimed at trying to protect that cargo."
The Port of Long Beach has taken similar steps, spokesman Art Wong said. Tenants have not asked for full-scale renegotiation of leases, he said, in part because of new requirements they might face, such as environmental restrictions.
"The thing about a long-term lease is that you are protected from new requirements. Reopening them is a big roll of the dice," Wong said.
If there is a silver lining for Southern California, it's that the trade from Asia to the West Coast is expected to recover faster than other trade routes, according to IHS Global Insight, a business research firm in Lexington, Mass.
IHS Global Insight also said retailers that had been looking to diversify their warehouse and distribution networks to rely less on Southern California had delayed those plans because of the recession and stayed put.
September is often the busiest month at the nation's biggest port complex, the Los Angeles Times reported, making it one of the best barometers of the health of the economy and international trade.
The port of Los Angeles received 309,078 containers packed with imported goods in September, representing a decline of 16 percent from the same month last year and 27 percent from September 2006, LA's best month ever for imports. Long Beach received 224,924 import containers in September, a drop of 19 percent from a year earlier and 32 percent from September 2007, the port's best September ever.
For the first nine months of the year, imports, exports and empty containers through the port of Los Angeles were down 16 percent at just under five million containers while the Long Beach port saw a decline of nearly 25 percent at just under 3.7 million containers, compared with the same period last year.
Kathryn McDermott, deputy executive director of business development for the Port of Los Angeles, said there was a 10 percent discount on the rate that customers normally had to pay to move containers through the port. She added that the port's Infrastructure Cargo Fee had been postponed indefinitely "until we are sure that we need it."
"We have had customers ask us for help and we have looked very carefully at what we can do," said McDermott, who said the reductions amounted to about US$20 million in relief. "The majority of them said that we really needed to look at our discretionary cargo, business that could go through other ports. These changes are aimed at trying to protect that cargo."
The Port of Long Beach has taken similar steps, spokesman Art Wong said. Tenants have not asked for full-scale renegotiation of leases, he said, in part because of new requirements they might face, such as environmental restrictions.
"The thing about a long-term lease is that you are protected from new requirements. Reopening them is a big roll of the dice," Wong said.
If there is a silver lining for Southern California, it's that the trade from Asia to the West Coast is expected to recover faster than other trade routes, according to IHS Global Insight, a business research firm in Lexington, Mass.
IHS Global Insight also said retailers that had been looking to diversify their warehouse and distribution networks to rely less on Southern California had delayed those plans because of the recession and stayed put.