A steep decline in Asian imports as factories closed for the Lunar New Year holiday helped drive container volume at the Port of Los Angeles down 23 percent year over year.

The number of shipping containers moving through the port in March fell to 503,168. Imports fell 28 percent, to 231,397, while exports decreased 18 percent to 154,428.

French shipping line CMA CGM Group moved a weekly ship call from Los Angeles to the neighboring Port of Long Beach last year, which has helped lower the numbers for L.A. and boost those for Long Beach.

The Port of Long Beach reported a 5.4 percent increase in container volumes year-over-year to 486,699 units.

Long Beach imports fell .5 percent to 224,913 while exports increased 7.9 percent to 156,212.