The Port of Long Beach moved more than 8.1 million cargo container units last year, setting a record despite economic uncertainty from the ongoing trade war with China and the coronavirus pandemic — which caused cargo to plunge early in 2020 before skyrocketing ahead of the holidays.
The port ended 2020 with 6.3% more cargo moved compared to the previous year. The port also beat the previous one-year high, set in 2018, by 22,292 twenty-foot equivalent units. (TEUs are a universal measurement for cargo, though most containers now are 40 feet.)
Imports rose 6.4% to nearly 4 million TEUs
Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, noted how essential the dockworkers were in 2020, keeping cargo moving even as the pandemic raged — helping bring in vital personal protective equipment. He also looked forward to the rest of this year.
“I want to thank our frontline workers on the docks who kept cargo moving during this unprecedented moment in history, ensuring the safe, secure and timely delivery of vital medical equipment and consumer goods,” Cordero, who will deliver his annual State of the Port address next month, said. “We have all endured incredible hardships with COVID-19, but I am looking forward to 2021 as a time of economic recovery and a renewed focus on our industry partners, infrastructure projects and community stakeholders.”
And record numbers wasn’t the only thing the Port of Long Beach had to celebrate in 2020.
After years of anticipation, it finally opened the $1.46 billion Gerald Desmond Replacement Bridge — the second highest cable-stayed bridge in the nation — to traffic in October. The new bridge is wider than its predecessor and isn’t as steep, easing truck traffic to the port and allowing the diesel-spewing rigs to work less while crossing the span, both of which are meant to reduce emissions.
“This is a historic day for our city and for the nation,” Mayor Robert Garcia said during the bridge’s christening. “We know that this project is a phenomenal marvel of architecture and infrastructure. It connects our port and the world to each other.”
Yet, despite the bridge opening and the record-setting year, the nation’s second-busiest port — as well as at its big sister, the Port of Los Angeles — faced massive volatility because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The virus, for example, drove down consumer demand for goods during the first half of 2020, leading to a 6.9% decline in cargo at Long Beach compared to the same period a year earlier. The Port of Los Angeles saw a 19% decline during the first five months of the year, its executive director, Gene Seroka, said during his State of the Port address this week.
And the San Pedro Bay ports complex — Long Beach and L.A. combined — had 104 canceled sailings in the first half of 2020, 37 of which were destined for Long Beach. That was up from 41 canceled sailings for both ports in the first half of 2019.
It was a different story for the second half of 2020, when preliminary estimates show that the port had 104 unscheduled container ship calls that made up for voyages canceled earlier in the year, more than quadrupling the unscheduled sailings reported during the same period in 2019.
Things were so busy at the end of the year that both ports dealt with a backlog of cargo.
Still, the second-half surge couldn’t make up for everything.
The Port of LA, overall, ended up slightly down in 2020, moving 1.5% less cargo than the previous year.
There were also signs of a continuing trade imbalance.
Exports out of the Port of Long Beach, for example, barely increased, with about 1.5 million TEUs shipped, up 0.2%. And empty containers were in high demand oversees, increasing 9.9%, to about 2.6 million TEUs.
At the Port of LA, 75% of containers returning to Asia were empty, Seroka said.
“Hardest hit of all were our exports,” Seroka said during his Thursday, Jan. 14, address.
And dockworkers were also hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The International Longshore and Workers Union, in fact, reported that eight active members who work at the ports of LA and Long Beach have died from coronavirus-related causes, according to a letter the local chapters sent to state and county officials this week asking to be prioritized for vaccinations.
The local chapters — ILWU Locals 13, 63 and 94 — represent 15,000 members who work at the twin port complex.
In December, ILWU members at the Port of Los Angeles saw 65% of tests come back positive for COVID-19, according to the letter to pubic officials. At the Port of Long Beach, 71% of the reported cases came back positive.
“In just the first seven days of January, 54 more positive cases were confirmed within our ranks,” the local unions’ letter said, calling the situation urgent. “These numbers continue to rise.”
Still, there haven’t been staffing shortages yet, though dockworkers have put in nonstop shifts as cases rise, Frank Ponce De Leon, coast committeeman for the ILWU’s Coast Longshore Division, said in an interview this week.
Despite those challenges, Long Beach ended 2020 in record fashion.
“This record demonstrates the effort of our dockworkers and the port’s determination to collaborate with our partners to overcome the devastating economic challenges presented by COVID-19 and the trade war with China,” said Long Beach harbor commission President Frank Colonna. “We look forward to continuing to work toward economic recovery along with our stakeholders.”
Staff writers Hunter Lee and Donna Littlejohn contributed to this report.
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