The Port of Los Angeles dealt with a report 1,042,652 twenty-foot equal models in September, marking the busiest month in its 118-year historical past as rising imports helped cap unprecedented quarterly and four-month cargo totals.
Throughput exceeded the earlier month-to-month report, set in July 2025, by greater than 20,000 TEUs. The port dealt with almost 3 million TEUs from July via September, its busiest quarter, and almost 4 million TEUs from June via September, its strongest four-month stretch.
Volumes that mirrored an prolonged peak season on dependable demand defied financial uncertainty, rising rates of interest, chaotic tariff coverage, and diverse geopolitics.
Loaded imports reached 545,696 TEUs in September, up 19% from a yr earlier. Loaded exports elevated 10% to 125,751 TEUs, whereas empty-container quantity totaled roughly 371,206 TEUs, the very best month-to-month complete in port historical past.
By means of the primary 9 months of 2026, Los Angeles dealt with almost 8.1 million TEUs, greater than 3% forward of the identical interval a yr in the past.
Port Govt Director Gene Seroka in a media briefing attributed the cargo surge to resilient shopper demand, stock replenishment and shippers allocating extra freight to Los Angeles amid challenges alongside different international commerce routes.
“September was a month for the report books, and it was a part of a unprecedented run for the Port of Los Angeles,” Seroka stated.
Seroka stated tariffs had fallen from ranges seen earlier this yr, offering importers with larger value certainty and permitting them to replenish inventories. He additionally cited continued shopper spending and challenges alongside the Suez and Panama Canal routes as contributors to the report cargo run.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated the port’s efficiency bolstered its function as an area and nationwide financial engine. She praised Seroka’s management and members of the Worldwide Longshore and Warehouse Union for his or her work dealing with the cargo.
“Los Angeles is robust as a result of our Port is robust, and none of this might be doable with out our gifted, devoted, and expert workforce,” Bass stated.
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