LA, Long Beach traffic up 6.3% in April

International trade at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach improved by more than six percent in April, compared with the same month a year ago, but the pace of growth slowed, reported Los Angeles Times.


April was the 15th straight month of growth at the nation's largest seaport complex. Trade-related jobs improved as well, but at a much slower pace.


The twin ports handle more than 40 percent of the nation's imports from Asia, making them an important barometer for the US economy and an important driver of jobs in wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing.


Although seaport trade has increased almost eight percent so far in 2011, trade jobs are up just 0.7 percent in Southern California and 2.8 percent statewide.


"Employers are still being very cautious. As trade volumes have picked up they are getting more out of the people they already have, and they are hiring temporary workers who do not show up in the full-time employment figures," said John Husing, founder and head of Redlands-based Economics and Politics, which tracks international trade and provided the trade jobs numbers.


Experts who track international trade through the nation's biggest seaports expect trade nationwide to level off until summer, when it is expected to show another spurt as goods are shipped for the end-of-the-year holiday season.


"After nearly a year and a half of volume increases, it's not surprising to see some leveling off," said Jonathan Gold, vice-president for supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation, a group that tracks trade volumes at all major US seaports. "But overall consumer demand for retail goods remains strong."


In April, the Port of Los Angeles handled 312,360 cargo containers carrying imports, up 3.4 percent from the same month a year earlier. Export containers through the port climbed 5.8 percent to 167,448.


Through the first four months of the year, traffic at the nation's busiest port increased 8.5 percent to 2.4 million containers.


At the neighbouring Port of Long Beach, which ranks second only to Los Angeles in container trade nationwide, the number of import containers rose 12 percent to 270,107 in April. Exports through Long Beach jumped 10.4 percent to 143,683 containers.


Combined, 1.1 million containers moved through the ports in April, up 6.3 percent from the same month a year earlier. Traffic at the two ports through the first four months of 2011 has increased 7.9 percent, to 4.3 million containers.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)