THE Port of Los Angeles reported container volumes were up in July 4.02 per cent to 890,899 TEU while the Port of Long Beach posted a 4.2 per cent year-on-year increase to 784,845 TEU.

LA imports were up by 2.9 per cent in July 2021 compared to July 2020 for a total of 469,361 TEU while July exports declined by 27.6 per cent to 91,440 TEU over 2020 numbers. The number of empties rose 20.4 per cent to 329,999 TEU.

The continued congestion at terminals and warehouses and where "containers are hard to come by" has slowed the ability to load and unload ships, said LA port director Gene Seroka.

"Even so, anchorages and dwell times are trending in the wrong direction. Seventy-five per cent of ships stopped at anchor in July up from 50 per cent in June," he said.

Dwell times at terminals continue at their peak of 5.3 days, on dock rail dwell time is running "over 13 days a new high" and street dwell times for trucks waiting to unload containers at warehouses is 8.3 days, he said.

Mr Seroka said that the Covid-related shutdown at Ningbo was not a major concern because the shutdown only involves "one of four terminals" at the port and Shanghai facilities serve as a backup.

Long Beach July imports grew 1.6 per cent to 382,940 TEU while exports decreased 20.7 per centre to 109,951 TEU. Exported empties soared 22.8 per cent to 291,955 TEU.

"I don't think these numbers will decrease, I think they will increase," said Long Beach port secretary-general Mario Cordero.

He said consumer demand hasn't diminished. It continues to push large volumes of freight and stays here, requiring a transition to a 24/7 supply chain model that affects the port, shipping companies, railways, and truck and warehousing industries.

Long Beach Port broke monthly cargo records in 12 of the last 13 months. By July, the port had processed 5.5 million TEU, an increase of 32.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2020.