Port of LA
SAN PEDRO (CNS) – The Port of Los Angeles handled 905,026 twenty-foot equivalent units in October, a 25% increase over the same time last year, marking the fourth consecutive month that workers moved more than 900,000 containers through the facility, officials said Wednesday.
The port’s loaded imports stood at 462,740 TEUs, which represented a 24% increase compared to October 2023, while loaded exports came in at 122,716 TEUs, a 1% increase over last year.
Dockworkers also processed 319,570 empty containers, which jumped 38% compared to 2023.
“These robust, sustained volumes will likely continue in the coming months with strong consumer spending, an early Lunar New Year, importer concerns about unresolved East Coast labor issues and the possibility of new tariffs next year that could drive up shipping costs,” Gene Seroka, executive director for the port, said during an online briefing.
“I’m grateful to our dockworkers, truckers, terminal operators and others who handle these record levels of cargo every day,” he added. “They have done it with speed, efficiency and without a single ship backed up at sea.”
Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, joined Seroka to discuss the potential impact of additional tariffs against products made in China and other countries that might be implemented by President-elect Donald Trump.
Seroka highlighted some of Trump’s proposed trade policies, such as 10% tariffs on all $3 trillion of American imports, 60% tariffs on China, and an equally high tax on products coming out of Mexico.
“We’ll definitely see an effect on trade flows, both imports and exports,” Lovely said.
Lovely anticipates that consumers will turn toward domestic goods.
“Our exports will be hurt because we’re going to see higher prices on the things that our producers use to produce in the United States,” she said.
For More Economic News Visit www.zapinin.com/economy