by Risk calculated on 22/09/2022 18:33:00
Remarks: The expansion of the Panama Canal was completed in 2016 (As i noted a few years ago), and some of the traffic that used the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach probably passes through the canal. This could impact TEUs on the West Coast.
Container traffic gives us an idea of the volume of goods exported and imported – and generally some clues about the trade ratio since ports in the Los Angeles area handle about 40% of the country’s container port traffic.
The following graphs relate to incoming and outgoing traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20ft equivalent units or 20ft long cargo container).
To remove the strong seasonal component of inbound traffic, the first chart shows the 12-month moving average.
Click on the graphic to enlarge the image.
On a rolling 12-month basis, inbound traffic was down 1.0% in August compared to the rolling 12 months ending in July. Outbound traffic increased by 0.1% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month.
The 2nd graph represents monthly data (with a strong seasonal trend for imports).
Usually, imports peak between July and October, as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday, then decline sharply and peak in February or March, depending on the timing of Chinese New Year.
Imports were down 12% year-on-year in August and exports were up 1% year-on-year.
It is possible that exports have bottomed out after declining for several years (even before the pandemic).