18/05/07

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- For the second month in a row, West Coast ports in April reported sluggish container volumes, offsetting some of the gains recorded in the first two months of the year.

Containerized imports in the Port of Los Angeles increased only 0.96 percent compared to April, 2006. Imports declined 5.6 percent in Long Beach, 7.76 percent in Oakland and 13.9 percent in Tacoma. Seattle reported a 1.1 percent increase.

After posting strong gains in January and February, imports softened in March, as expected, due to the effects of the New Year holiday when factories in Asia shut down for a week or longer.

Although container traffic bounced back in April to equal the volumes recorded in the first two months of the year, the growth in imports compared to April, 2006 was modest to negative. The ports in recent years had grown accustomed to steady gains in imports from Asia.
  
Total cargo volume including imports, exports and empty containers was also sluggish in April. Los Angeles volume increased 0.93 percent, while declines were registered in Long Beach, down 6.5 percent; Oakland, off 3.13 percent; Seattle, down 2.6 percent, and Tacoma, down 9.7 percent.

Portland, Ore., has been the only West Coast port to record solid gains month after month. Two new services started up in the second half of 2006, boosting imports volume by 63 percent in April and total container volume by 57.8 percent.

Container volumes should pick up in the summer months as back-to-school merchandise is imported followed by the peak season holiday shipments. However, volumes will have to pick up dramatically if the ports are to match last year's growth of about 10 percent.