The Port of Long Beach: August was the second busiest month in its cargo volume history
The Port of Long Beach reported that August was the second busiest month in its 114-year history and the sixth busiest month in its 114-year history, with retailers scrambling to take advantage of the reduction of US tariffs on China.
The Port of Long Beach said in a press release that it is part of the Port of Los Angeles - Port of SAN Pedro Complex. In August, it handled 901,846 20-foot TEUs, a 1.3% decrease from the monthly record set in 2024.
Imports dropped by 3.6% to 440,318 TEUs, and exports declined by 8.3% to 95,960 TEUs. Empty containers, an indicator of future import activities, rose 3.7% to 365,567 TEUs.
"Changing trade policies continue to bring uncertainties to businesses and consumers," Mario Cordero, the CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said in a press release. Our supply chain information highway digital tracker predicts that as retailers start preparing inventories for the winter holidays, our transportation peak season will remain in sync with last year.
Donald Trump's initial 90-day tariff moratorium expired in early August. As Beijing and Washington negotiate the details of a trade agreement, a new round of the same suspension will last until November.
A shipping executive privately told FreightWaves that the suspension of tariffs has provided the U.S. Customs and Border Protection with some respite The information technology system of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been overwhelmed by the numerous changes coming from Washington.
But an industrial test equipment distributor that sources some of its products from China and Malaysia told FreightWaves that customer demand began to pick up in June, became even stronger in July, and could reach a record level in August. The distributor said that the price increase due to tariffs was only about 3%, and its customers felt more stable about their business plans for the coming months.
In the first eight months of 2025, the Port of Long Beach handled 6,592,708 TEUs, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.3%.