From Freight Waves:

The Port of Long Beach says September container volumes fell from a year ago, but fiscal year volumes hit a new record. The results come just ahead of the tariffs the U.S. imposed on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

The second largest port by container volume, Long Beach saw loaded inbound containers fall 2.5% from a year ago to 357,301 twenty foot equivalent units (teu) last month. With empty containers seeing a small increase, overall September activity was flat at 701,205 teus.

The 2018 fiscal year saw Long Beach handle just over 8 million teus, representing a 10.7% increase year-on-year. Port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero says the gain came even as the U.S. is embroiled in a dispute with its largest trading partner.

But the results came ahead of the start of tariffs on Chinese imports. The U.S. Trade Representative imposed tariffs of 10% on a wide variety of consumer goods coming into the U.S. starting September 24. The tariffs escalate to 25% by the start of next year.

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