Long Beach Sees Decrease in April Container Traffic

Container traffic at the Port of Long Beach dropped 13 percent in April compared to the same period a year ago, the port said. But it said analysts continue to forecast modest growth in trade for 2012, and the Port of Long Beach announced three new lines of vessels from Asia that will begin calling at the Port later this month. Combined, the three services are expected to add as much as 500,000 TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent container units, through the remainder of the year, it said. For April, Port terminals handled 461,911 TEUs compared to 531,090 TEUs in April 2011. Imports were down 13.8 percent to 232,963 TEUs, and exports were down 16.2 percent to 120,452 TEUs, it said. The port said the decreases were partly due to the elimination of several niche service lines that had called at the Port last year. Empty container moves were down 7.5 percent to 108,496 TEUs compared to 117,300 a year ago.