The Port of Los Angeles moved 752,893 cargo units in May, about 3% shy of last year’s numbers for the same month.
Despite the May numbers being a tick down, when combined with the data from the previous four months, they represent a “really good start” to the year, POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka said during his monthly virtual news conference on Wednesday, June 12. Seroka also pointed to continued consumer spending as a positive economic indicator.
“As we gear up for the second half of the year,” Seroka said. “I suspect our strong performance will continue.
“Our numbers are at or better than where they were before COVID,” Seroka said. “Even though we’re seeing a promising rebound, there’s ample room for growth.”
Retail sales nationwide, in fact, jumped significantly in May, according to a recent press release from the National Retail Federation.
“Consumers have clearly retained their ability to spend and are driving solid economic growth,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in the Monday, June 10, news release.
The Port of Long Beach’s May cargo numbers, meanwhile, are expected to be released later this week.
Seroka, noting 2024 marked his 10th anniversary since taking the helm at the port, appeared in this month’s news conference from Washington, D.C., where he was meeting with government officials on port-related issues.
Joining him this month was economist Jared Bernstein, chairperson of President Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers. Bernstein also worked in the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president — and during the Great Recession.
Lessons learned from those days, Bernstein said, included “do not ignore your supply chains.”
“Working together in a team approach,” Bernstein added, “doesn’t happen when you just snap your fingers, you have to have ongoing task forces.”
There were also lessons learned during the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a historic backlog of cargo ships in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2021. The line of ships stretched down to South Orange County, with the vessels waiting days to be unloaded.
“If you’d come up to me in 2019 and told me two words — ‘dwell time’ — would come to mean a lot,” Bernstein said, “I would not have known what you were talking about.”
Seroka, meanwhile, also discussed ongoing contract negotiations between East Coast dockworkers and employers, about a year after the West Coast dockworkers and shippers came to terms on a new deal after months of tensions that spooked some in the trade industries. But any shifts in cargo from east to west — and vice versa — are measured in fractions, Seroka said.
“What I’m not seeing right now,” Seroka said, “are canceled sailings from Asia in the weeks and months ahead or a weakening of purchase orders.”
As for the peak season — when a rush of goods for fall and winter holidays begin arriving in the ports — the pattern continues to be different from before the pandemic, Seroka said.
“We haven’t had a traditional peak season in a long time; it’s changed quite a bit,” Seroka said.
Generally, he said, the seasons now arrive earlier or are spread out through the summer months.
“The numbers say consumers will continue spending,” he said. “We’re under four days (of cargo dwell time) for the average ship that comes into the port.”
Trade also is shifting, Seroka said, with fewer boxes coming primarily from China and more from other countries such as Vietnam and, closer to home, Mexico.
The National Retail Federation, in its June release, also said that while inflation remains “stubborn,” the impacts are seen more in services rather than retail goods.
“May sales were up in five out of nine retail categories on a yearly bases,” the release said, “led by online sales, health and personal care stores, and clothing and accessory stores.”
Related Articles
100-year-old Italian Navy ship will visit Port of LA in July
Los Angeles harbor commission OKs $2.6 billion budget for Port of LA in 2024-25
Waterfront fun is gearing up for the summer in San Pedro, Wilmington
Longshore training facility opens in Port of Los Angeles
AltaSea celebrates significant milestone in creating a 35-acre ocean research campus in San Pedro
