Busiest U.S. Container Ports Set to Close 2024 with Record Volumes

The Port of Los Angeles is set for its busiest December on record, and the Port of Long Beach is on track to have its best-ever year after the container hubs handled an early and sustained peak season in 2024.

“All indications are that we’re heading into our best December on record,” Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka told reporters on December 17. Traditionally it’s a slower month, but this December the port will likely surpass 900,000 20-foot container equivalent units (TEUs), and it’s on track to handle 10 million TEUs for the year for only the second time, Seroka said.

Next door at the Port of Long Beach, CEO Mario Cordero said cargo handlers moved more containers last month than in any other November on record. The port is on track to move 9.6 million TEUs in 2024, an all-time annual record, Cordero said in a separate press conference on December 17.

The two hubs — which together account for roughly a third of all U.S. container imports — have gotten more traffic as some businesses reroute goods via California, to avoid disruption from a still-unresolved labor dispute that shut down East and Gulf coast ports in October. There’s also a rush to bring in imports ahead of the tariffs promised by President-elect Donald Trump, which could slow traffic down in 2025.

It’s unclear when any new tariffs will take effect, or which goods and countries will be impacted. Seroka said there may be an eventual decline in volume similar to what happened when the first round of Trump tariffs took effect back in 2018. 

So far in 2024, the Port of Los Angeles has processed 9.4 million TEUs, 19% more than in 2023 and 7% above the five-year average, Seroka said. Last month, the container hub handled 884,000 containers, up 16% from the same month last year.

Source: Bloomberg

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