The Port of Los Angeles handled 960,464 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in July, the second-highest July total in the port's history and the latest figure in a sustained run of historically elevated cargo volume at the nation's busiest seaport.

The result came on the heels of a June that surpassed 1 million units, leaving July just shy of that threshold. Together with the adjacent Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles anchors the San Pedro Bay complex, which handles roughly 40% of the containerized imports entering the United States, one reason its monthly TEU counts are tracked as a near-real-time reading on consumer demand and transpacific trade flows.

"After topping 1 million container units in June, we nearly reached that mark again in July," Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said in a media briefing. "Businesses continue to move cargo when they see windows of opportunity amid an evolving trade environment, while resilient consumer demand is helping keep imports at historically strong levels."

July's volume came in 6% below the same month a year earlier, when shippers rushed to frontload cargo in anticipation of looming trade policy changes. Even so, the total ran 7.5% above the port's five-year July average. The gap between those two benchmarks reflects how heavily the 2025 comparison base was shaped by that pull-forward of shipments.

Loaded imports reached 499,552 TEUs, down 8% from 2025's record month but 6% ahead of the five-year July average. Loaded exports totaled 111,776 TEUs, an 8% year-over-year decline. Empty containers moved at 349,137 TEUs, off 2% from a year ago.

For the first seven months of 2026, the port handled 6,083,067 TEUs, up 1.8% from the same period a year earlier.

Seroka said another strong month is expected in August, though some cargo that typically arrives later in the season has already moved earlier. He pointed to consumer demand as the key variable for the balance of the year. August falls within the traditional peak season for ocean shipping, when retailers typically bring in merchandise for the year-end holidays.

Seroka also emphasized that the port has the capacity and operational readiness to absorb additional cargo if shifting global trade routes steer more volume toward Los Angeles. Much of the port's import traffic arrives on transpacific services from Asia, and containers leaving the docks move inland by rail and truck to distribution centers, so volume trends at the San Pedro Bay complex extend into domestic freight networks as well.

For readers following the trend, subsequent monthly releases from Los Angeles and neighboring Long Beach, along with the National Retail Federation's Global Port Tracker forecasts of U.S. retail imports, provide the standard public reference points for the sector.

Source: FreightWaves