California’s main container ports have managed to hold their own despite carrier capacity withdrawal programs. By Paul Richardson, AJOTCalifornia’s main container ports continue to show a mixed bag of results in throughput figures, but despite a near global recession that has driven shipping rates towards all time lows, and already led ocean carriers to double digit capacity withdrawal programs on some trade routes for the final quarter of 2012, there are some plus signs on the horizon. Latest throughput statistics provided by the Port of Los Angeles show that September 2012 was the strongest month for container handling over two years, since August 2010. Volumes handled during September were 5.57% up on the same month last year, and imports increased by 3.38% to reach 385,250 teu compared to 372,655 teu recorded in September 2011. Exports, however, registered a slight fall, dropping 2.56% from the September 2011 figure of 176,954 teu to 172,432 teu this September. But, the overall combined throughput statistics for both imports and exports increased by 1.47% from last September’s figure of 549,609 teu to reach 557,683 teu in September 2012, and with empties included in the calculations, this September’s throughput of 744,923 teu is 5.57% up on September 2011’s throughout of 705,623 teu. As it stands right now, for the first nine months of 2012, overall container volumes are up 5.16% to reach 6,188,172 teu compared with 5,884,347 teu during the January/September 2011 period. Based on these increases, and the assumption that there will not be a dramatic slide in throughput during the last three-months of this year, 2012 could be heading towards the record levels achieved during 2006 and 2007, when throughput was recorded at 8.5m teu and 8.4m teu respectively. Over at Long Beach, the story is not quite so bright. Container throughput is slightly down over comparable 2011/2012 periods. According to the latest Port of Long Beach throughput statistics, total volume handled during September 2012 amounted to 512,020 teu compared with 527,175 teu during September 2011 – a drop of 2.9%. Comparing volumes on a fiscal year-to-date basis (Oct 1 through Sept 30), fiscal 2012 posted a final throughput of 5,857,218 teu, down 7.0% on the figure for fiscal 2011. Loaded imports have slid 6.6% from 3,138,899 teu down to 2,932,078 teu, while loaded exports have recorded a 5.8% drop from 1,582,476 teu to 1,491,390 teu. Empty container shipment has fallen 9% from 1,577,465 teu down to 1,433,750 teu. On a calendar year assumption, the slide in throughput volumes recorded in the 2010/2011 period from 6,263,499 teu to 6,061,085 teu looks like it’s continuing for the 2011/2012 period. Further north in Oakland, September throughput statistics have recorded a 4.4% drop to hit 191,495 teu which means that the calendar year-to-date sees container throughput drop 0.4% compared with the first nine months of 2011 to 1,749,307 teu. The annual throughput trend at Oakland over the last two years has seen a positive swing with 2010 recording a 13.9% increase on 2009 to reach 2,330,457 teu, while there was a 0.5% increase 2011 on 2010 to 2,342,504 teu. On the hardware side, The Los Angeles Harbor Commission has recently approved a US$7.5m provision towards work to be undertaken on the final phase development of the port’s Main Channel Deepening Project known as the MCDP. This will mean that navigational channels to and from the harbor berths will be increased to 53 foot depth, thereby providing Los Angeles with the ability to handle latest generation container vessels for the foreseeable future. The dredging process within the main channel area has already been completed, and is the case with the turning basins, but the final phase of this development project mostly involves the removal of the dredged material and final completion work. The entire dredging project carries a cost of US$370m, and will have taken 15 years to complete when all work is finished in early 2013.