Despite a slowing economy, weak consumer confidence and a slumping housing market, container traffic at the Long Beach-Los Angeles seaport will surge to record levels this year, according to a new report, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports.
The number of containers is expected to jump more than 9 percent this year, to 17.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent units), securing the seaport’s long-standing position as America’s busiest.
“By way of comparison, the two ports handled 9.5 million TEUs in 2000,” said Jack Kyser of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), who sponsored the study.
The report, “International Trade Trends and Impacts,” comes on the heels of another economic study showing that every congressional district in America imports or exports commodities moved through the L.B.-L.A. port complex.
In the new study, authors predict that trade valued at nearly $300 billion will be handled at the ports this year, much of it from China, Japan and Korea.
