With one week left in 2021, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) anticipates that its final container volumes will reach approximately 10.7 million TEU, surpassing by almost 13% its previous record, set in 2018.

Until November, the busiest port of the United States has processed a total of 9,891,021 TEU in 2021, reflecting a container volume throughput elevated by 18.7% over the same period of the previous year.

The port's executive director, Gene Seroka said, "While there is much more that we need to improve upon, we’re delivering record amounts of cargo and goods are making their way into the hands of consumers and manufacturers."

The Californian port handled 811,460 TEU in November, indicating a decrease of 8.8% in container volumes compared to last year, due to the fact that half of the 86 container vessels that arrived in November carried less than 5,300 TEU capacity.

"Smaller vessels can take nearly as long to process as larger ones and was a contributing factor in the year-over-year monthly decline," explained Californian port's officials.

In addition, imports amount to 403,444 TEU in November, dropping by 13.2% compared to the previous year. However, total 2021 imports are on track for an all-time record of about 5.5 million TEU, 13% higher than the 2018 import record, according to POLA's data.

Meanwhile, loaded exports saw a decline of 36.8% year-on-year in November, to 82,741 TEU. They have also presented a downtrend in 33 of the last 37 months, according to the port's statistics.

Moreover, empty containers, which are in high demand for transpacific transit back to Asia, reached 325,275, showing a rise of 10.6% compared to 2020's figures.