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Friday, June 15, 2012

LA area Port Traffic: Imports down YoY, Exports mostly unchanged in May

by Calculated Risk on 6/15/2012 03:01:00 PM

The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container).

Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and possibly some hints about the trade report for May. LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic.

To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12 month average.

LA Area Port TrafficClick on graph for larger image.

On a rolling 12 month basis, inbound traffic is down about 0.2%, and outbound traffic is unchanged compared to April.

In general, inbound and outbound traffic has been moving sideways recently.

The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports).

LA Area Port TrafficFor the month of May, loaded outbound traffic was down 2.4% compared to May 2011, and loaded inbound traffic was unchanged compared to May 2011.

This suggests imports from Asia might be down a little in May, and exports mostly unchanged. (Note: the dollar value of oil imports will be down in May too, so the trade deficit should decline).


All current trade graphs