An ongoing cargo boom largely driven by online purchases lifted the Port of Long Beach to its strongest April on record, according to the company’s release.
Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 746,188 twenty-foot equivalent units in April, a 43.6% increase from the same month last year. It was the first time the nation’s second-busiest seaport handled more than 700,000 TEUs in the month of April, surpassing the previous record set in April 2019 by 118,066 TEUs.
Imports grew 44.8% to 367,151 TEUs, while exports climbed 21% to 124,069 TEUs. Empty containers moved through the Port were up 55.8% to 254,970 TEUs. The Port has moved 3,122,315 TEUs during the first four months of 2021, a 41.8% increase from the same period in 2020.
April marked the 10th consecutive month that the Port of Long Beach has broken cargo movement records for a particular month amid a historic cargo surge that started in July 2020.
The Port of Long Beach spent the past decade preparing for the challenges of cargo growth through an aggressive $4 billion capital improvement program resulting in terminal upgrades, a new bridge and the completion this summer of the Long Beach Container Terminal at Middle Harbor – one of the most technologically advanced and greenest container terminals in the world.
In the next 10 years, the Port plans to invest another $1.7 billion for rail improvements, terminal modernization and other strategic infrastructure projects aimed at easing the flow of cargo moving through the nation’s second-busiest seaport.
