Despite Labor Strike, Port of Los Angeles Container Volumes Increased 1.7% in 2012

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According to the Port of Los Angeles, they finished the full-year of 2012 with a 1.7 percent increase in overall cargo volumes compared to 2011. The total number of Twenty-Foot Equivalent (TEU) containers for 2012 was 8,077,714 compared to 7,940,510 TEUs in 2011.

Despite an eight-day port labor strike late in 2012 that paralyzed the nation's busiest shipping complex, this was the third time in the Port's history to eclipse 8 million TEUs, the last time coming in 2007.
 
The year ended with soft December volumes, decreasing 9.4 percent, from 649,468, TEUs in December 2011 to 588,154 for December 2012. December imports fell 6.7 percent to 296,874 TEUs compared to 318,355 TEUs the previous year. Exports declined 16.4 percent to 147,417 TEUs in December 2012 compared to 176,530 TEUs in December 2011.
 
Combined, total loaded imports and exports for December decreased 10.2 percent, from 494,886 TEUs in December 2011 to 444,291 TEUs in December 2012. Factoring in empties, which decreased 6.9 percent year over year, overall December 2012 volumes dropped 9.4 percent compared to December 2011.