The Port of Long Beach in California has set a container throughput record for six consecutive months, and by 2024, the port will handle 9.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, breaking the previous container throughput record set during the pandemic in 2021.

The second-busiest import gateway port in the United States reported its best November performance on record, handling 884,154 TEUs, up 20.9 percent from a year ago and 12.8 percent above the previous record set in November 2020.

Since November 2023, the number of fully loaded import containers increased by 21.8% to 432,823 TEUs, while the number of fully loaded export containers increased by 9.5% to 119,083 TEUs. The number of empty containers reached 332,250 TEUs, an increase of 24.5%.

It was the sixth consecutive month of year-on-year growth.

"Strong consumer demand is driving imports, while retailers continue to bring goods here out of concern over labor negotiations at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports," Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said in a press release. He added that the portal has not experienced service disruptions in 2024.

Container throughput in the first 11 months of the year totaled 8,788,718 TEU, up 20.2% year-on-year. Import container throughput totaled 4,316,676 TEU, an increase of 24.4%. Export container throughput totaled 1,106,244 TEU, down 6.2% year-on-year.

Year-to-date, inbound empty containers fell 5.3% to 156,593 TEUs, while outbound empty containers surged 28.7% to 3,209,206 TEUs.