Economically speaking, the restoration of the global supply chain is one of, if not the, paramount concern for international business. That means shipping. To that, the ports of Los Angeles as well as Long Beach recorded their busiest months of January … in their histories.

Almost 1.7 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) flowed through San Pedro Bay, according to a news release. The Port of Los Angeles processed 21 percent more empty containers in January than it did in 2021.

More transport data includes a lessening of the time empty shipping containers sit in port has decreased to just five days – down from 11 days in October 2021. Additionally, the amount of time containers wait their turn before being loaded onto rail has dropped to two days from a peak of (wait for it …) 13.5 days last summer. 

These facts aren’t all great news (from the release, © 2022 Jones Lang LaSalle IP, Inc. All rights reserved.):

The San Pedro Bay continues to see a growing trend in smaller ships unloading cargo at their docks. These smaller vessels decrease overall port efficiency and exacerbate the current backup. Imbalance trade also continues to be an issue at the Ports.