The Port of Los Angeles had one of its busiest holiday seasons during a "Covid cargo crunch" that caused container volumes to rocket in the last six months of 2020.
The US' largest port experienced a 94% jump in year-over-year vessel traffic in the week before Christmas, amid a 50% spike in boxes from the first half to the second half of last year.
The huge spike can be attributed to a perfect storm of factors that include Chinese manufacturers catching up on orders after the recent Covid-19 lockdowns and US consumers spending stimulus cheques on tangible goods instead of experiences, port officials said.
“Our container business in 2020 was the most erratic we have ever seen, with volumes plunging nearly 19% in the first five months of the year, followed by an unprecedented second-half surge,” executive director Gene Seroka said.
Thanks to the second-half frenzy, the port's container volumes for the year slipped only 1.5% to 9.2m teu from 2019, port data showed.
Working together
The "Covid cargo crunch" has been felt around the world, forcing ocean carriers to actually work together to handle the volumes, the World Shipping Council said.
"Vessel sharing agreements are extremely important during times of high demand for vessel capacity," it said.
Seroka said the port has invested in a number of digitally-based cargo-tracking capabilities developed Port Optimizer to improve handling efficiency.
In addition, volumes are being predicted using Signal technology that was brought on last year. Box volumes for the fourth week of January are expected to reach 71,211 teu, a 114% increase on the same week in 2019.
This year, the port plans to install another cloud-based capability that will provide data such as vessel turn times, truck capacity and cargo velocity.
The port is also investing $473m in terminal, rail and roadway projects that will allow the port to keep up with an expected post-Covid-19 "resurgence" in the US economy, Seroka said.
"These difficult times are not behind us," he said. "But with promising Covid-19 vaccines slowly beginning to circulate, we believe 2021 will be America's year of resurgence."
