February Inbound Traffic Up YoY, Outbound Down

by Calculated Risk on 3/19/2025 04:26:00 PM

Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported – and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation’s container port traffic.

The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container).

To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12-month average.

On a rolling 12-month basis, inbound traffic increased 0.4% in February compared to the rolling 12 months ending in December.   Outbound traffic decreased 0.8% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month.

The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports).

Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday and then decline sharply and bottom in the Winter depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year.  

Imports were up 6% YoY in February and exports were down 10% YoY.    

This was a very strong July through January period for imports – up about 27% YoY – as importers rushed to beat the tariffs.  That has started to slow.