Apparel Contributes to Record Traffic at Local Ports
The apparel industry has been a major factor in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach receiving a record number of cargo containers this year.
The Port of Los Angeles has seen a 13 percent increase in the number of 20-foot containers (TEUs) that passed through its gates from January through November this year. Already, 7.76 million containers have been loaded or unloaded at the busiest port in the United States. December’s numbers still haven’t been tallied. But the amount of cargo coming through Los Angeles during the first 11 months of 2006 surpassed 2005’s total, when Los Angeles processed 7.5 million containers.
“This year has been steady growth,” said port spokesperson Rachel Campbell. “Ever since October, we have been breaking records.”
The top import items coming in through the port were furniture, toys, electronic products, footwear, and women’s and children’s apparel, in that order.
Next door, at the Port of Long Beach, container traffic was up nearly 9 percent for the first 11 months of 2006 to 6.72 million containers. That is close to the 6.7 million containers that came through Long Beach’s port last year.
Ever since China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2005, more apparel, textiles, electronic toys and other consumer goods have been manufactured in this Asian country, which is now becoming the world’s factory. About 43 percent of all containers sent to the United States come through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
According to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which monitors the comings and goings of ships at the two ports, there were no problems with docking cargo vessels and getting them unloaded quickly. —Deborah Belgum
