The Port of Los Angeles reported Friday that it had its best August since a record-setting 790,730 containers moved through the port in 2006.

Officials said last month’s container volume was up 3.8 percent over the same month last year, with nearly 786,680 containers moving through the port. The port set a record nearly a decade ago when it handled 8.5 million containers. It came close to meeting that level last year, with 8.4 million containers.

Last month’s volume of imported containers increased 6.3 percent over the year-earlier period to more than 407,800; however export volume fell 14 percent to just under 143,940 containers. The number of empty containers returning to overseas ports climbed 14 percent.

Through the first eight months of the year, container volume has dropped 2.5 percent compared to the year-ago period. Just under 5.4 million containers have traveled through the port so far this year, compared to about 5.5 million a year ago. Unless the pace picks up in the last third of the year, the port will fall short of the volume record set in 2006. Through the first eight months of that year, 5.42 million containers had moved through the facility.

“The numbers are strong indicators that our terminal operators, longshore labor and supply chain partners are adjusting to the new industry dynamics of carrier alliances, deploying larger ships and delivering higher container volumes per call,” said Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director.

August was also a banner month for the neighboring Port of Long Beach. Roughly 703,650 containers moved through the port, a 23 percent gain over last year, and the busiest month in its 104-year history. Its record year was in 2007 when it moved 7.3 million containers.

Based on year-to-date numbers, Long Beach is also not on track to reach or exceed its record year. So far this year, 4.7 million containers have moved through the port. In the same period in 2006 it saw more than 4.8 million containers.