The Port of Los Angeles saw a 3% year-over-year boost in container volumes during August, marking the first year-over-year gain seen at the port since July 2022. The port handled about 828,000 container units during August, a 21% increase from July 2023, said executive director Gene Seroka during a September 14 press briefing. Compared to the five-year running average for August, the port is off by 6%, though Seroka said that the gap “continues to close.”

The port also saw the number of imported TEUs handled increase by 7% year-over-year to more than 433,000 TEUs. This represents the first year-on-year increase in imports handled in over a year, too.

With over 125,000 loaded outbound containers, August 2023 marked the fourth consecutive month of gains for the port and a 22% increase when compared to the same time in 2022.

The Port of Los Angeles handled over 270,000 empty TEUs in August, a 10% year-over-year decline.

Through the first eight months of 2023, the Port of Los Angeles has processed more than 5.7 million container units, a 21% year-on-year drop and a 12% decline from the five-year average.

Seroka predicted that September volumes will be within the 700,000 TEUs range for the Port of Los Angeles, which is comparable to a relatively light September, in 2022.

“The good news is that, from an operational standpoint, we’ve got capacity, and we’re prepared to scale up when that demand does increase,” Seroka said.