THE US Port of Los Angeles saws its total container throughput in July rise by an overall 5.53 per cent to 726,375 TEU compared with July 2011, up from the 688,325 TEU handled last year.

Within this total, July's imports increased by 3.97 per cent year-on-year to 371,859 TEU. Exports remained flat at 165,581 TEU, representing a fractional increase of 0.27 per cent compared to last July's 165,135 TEU.

Combined, total loaded imports and exports for July increased 2.8 per cent against the corresponding month a year earlier to 537,440 TEU, up from 522,802 TEU, while empties rose by 14.1 per cent.

Over the first seven months of 2012, overall container volumes increased 6.3 per cent year-on-year to 4,736,579 TEU, according to the latest figures from port authorities.