The Port of Long Beach saw container volumes decline in February after a significant rise in January, due in part to the Lunar New Year holiday.

In February, 249,759 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) landed at the port while 119,811 full cargo containers and 128,742 empty containers left the port, for a total of 498,311 container movements, an 11.2 percent decrease compared to the same month a year ago.

February 2016 is still the highest-volume February in Long Beach Port history, port officials reported.

January numbers were up 6 percent from December and up 8 percent from a year ago, much to the relief of the port authorities and the larger shipping industry left reeling from the Hanjin bankruptcy.

The Port of Long Beach saw a decrease in container volume during the end of 2016 after the Hanjin bankruptcy and saw most of its cargo redirected to the Port of Los Angeles.

Long Beach port officials said that the slowdown in February was due to the Lunar New Year.

“Businesses in China … close for a week or more to observe the holiday,” Port of Long Beach officials said in a statement. “The impact on the port is seen two weeks afterwards, accounting for the time it takes the vessels to cross the Pacific.”

Manufacturing and trade reporter Shwanika Narayan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @shwanika.