COMBINED loaded imports for the US largest ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach dropped 4.5 per cent in July year on year, with Long Beach suffering a 10 per cent decline to 261,233 TEU while Los Angeles enjoyed a 3.97 per cent increase to 371,859 TEU.

The Long Beach decline was attributed to "losing several niche services since last year", reported London's Containerisation International, adding that LB also suffered from the loss of California United Terminals, which moved to Los Angeles in 2011.



Compared to the combined import volumes of 647,981 TEU in July last year, the two ports only handled 618,900 TEU this July.



Unlike the performance of imports, the combined export volumes for the two ports only fell 0.8 per cent in July year on year to 289,709 TEU. Likewise, Long Beach's exports dipped 1.9 per cent to 124,574 TEU, while LA experienced a 2.7 per cent increase in exports to 165,581 TEU.



The Long Beach case seems to be exceptional, as all the top 10 ports surveyed by Global Port Tracker are expected to increase their throughput by 2.6 per cent to 1.39 million TEU in July year on year. Port tracker also said the rise will continue in August with a 6.3 per cent year-on-year increase to 1.44 million TEU.



According to the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement, weekly cargo levels grew to 119,000 FEU in mid-July after seeing a drop in June.