by Calculated Risk on 7/16/2012 07:34:00 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 June. 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.

Click on graph for larger image.

On a rolling 12 month basis, inbound traffic is up about 0.4%, and outbound traffic is up about 0.5% compared to May.

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).

For the month of June, loaded outbound traffic was up 4.8% compared to June 2011, and loaded inbound traffic was up 6.3% compared to June 2011.

This suggests imports from Asia might be up in June, and exports to Asia up too.

All current trade graphs