Reply #21: Cargo traffic slows at L.A., Long Beach ports [View All]

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The strains of Japan's disasters are showing up at the local ports, with cargo traffic slowing through the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors.

The number of cargo containers moving through the nation's two largest ports in March dipped by an almost imperceptible amount — 217 containers — compared with February. The ports registered an improvement of about 4% from March 2010, moving 1.01 million containers compared with 973,024.

"The earthquake and tsunami in Japan have started to affect the flow of goods," said Paul Bingham, economics practice leader with Wilbur Smith Associates. "That probably reduced overall trade at the Southern California ports by at least a couple of percentage points."

Imports through Los Angeles rose 10.2% in March to 297,023 containers, compared with 269,634 a year earlier; exports climbed 19.2% to 192,849 boxes. But the number of empty containers being shipped overseas, where factories refill them for return to the U.S., fell 6.6% to 110,924. Overall traffic for March rose 9.2% to 600,796 containers.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ports-20110415,0,2446476.story