SIMIC

While manufacturing in China is rebounding from the pandemic, US demand remains below normal due to the ongoing crisis and it expected 16 sailings would be blanked between April 1 and June 30.

Imports dropped 20.2 per cent to 235,540 TEU as consumer demand was down during stay-at-home mandates, according to the port, which said exports declined 17.2 per cent to 102,502 TEU and were hampered by a shift of carrier services.

The port moved 2,202,650 TEU during the first four months of 2020, down 9.5 per cent from the same period in 2019. The port had only one cancelled sailing in April. However, the San Pedro Bay port complex - the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles - is expected to have 48 cancelled voyages between April 1 and June 30.

Sixteen of those calls were scheduled for the Port of Long Beach. The two ports reported 10 blanked sailings during the same period in 2019. The San Pedro Bay ports had 61 cancelled sailings during the first quarter, nearly double the 31 in the same period in 2019.

Empties decreased 12.2 per cent year on year in April to 163,688 TEU. Empties were down 21 per cent in March.

"We look forward to a recovery stage and rebounding cargo shipments as the nation contemplates relaxing shelter-in-place orders, people return to work and consumer demand rises. But not in the short term," said Port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero.