CARGO volume growth continued at the US port of Long Beach with traffic in November, the most recent month with data available, amounting to 622,000 cargo containers, a year-on-year increase of 1.5 per cent.
That brought the port's total cargo volume to 7.4 million - meaning, once the December numbers come out, the port will officially break the previous record set last year. In 2017 the Long Beach port handled 7.5 million containers, reported The Associated Press.
Harbour commission president Tracy Egoscue said: 'While the new year may bring challenges, we remain hopeful that trade will grow, bringing more jobs and economic opportunity to this region.'
In November imports continued to outpace goods shipped overseas. Inbound cargo rose slightly to 319,877 containers while exports declined by 8.4 per cent to 115,774. However, empty containers that were returned to Asia swelled to 186,183, up 11.4 per cent.
The slow growth of imports, relative to the much larger decline in exports and the increase in empty containers, underscores how the tariffs imposed by the US and China have impacted commerce, said the port's executive director Mario Cordero.
Meanwhile, the US-China trade row threatens to snarl other multinational companies' supply lines and lower demand for their products as well. Companies such as General Motors, Caterpillar and Daimler have all said that trade tensions, combined with slower growth in China, were damaging their businesses.
'When the largest and second largest economies in the world get into a trade dispute, the rest of the world's going to feel the effects. That's what we're seeing now,' said Cresset Wealth Advisors chief investment officer Jack Ablin.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that Chinese money is increasingly flowing into Vietnam to escape its trade war with America. It reported that Chinese firms have begun looking at how to avoid US tariffs by shipping goods through Vietnam, which has fewer trade barriers with America.
'American retailers are stocking up on goods made in China to avoid anticipated higher tariffs,' said Mr Ablin. 'You're seeing the opposite effect on the other side of the ocean. Chinese businesses seem to be already looking to other countries for goods and raw materials, meaning there's less demand for American exports.'
WORLD SHIPPING
That brought the port's total cargo volume to 7.4 million - meaning, once the December numbers come out, the port will officially break the previous record set last year. In 2017 the Long Beach port handled 7.5 million containers, reported The Associated Press.
Harbour commission president Tracy Egoscue said: 'While the new year may bring challenges, we remain hopeful that trade will grow, bringing more jobs and economic opportunity to this region.'
In November imports continued to outpace goods shipped overseas. Inbound cargo rose slightly to 319,877 containers while exports declined by 8.4 per cent to 115,774. However, empty containers that were returned to Asia swelled to 186,183, up 11.4 per cent.
The slow growth of imports, relative to the much larger decline in exports and the increase in empty containers, underscores how the tariffs imposed by the US and China have impacted commerce, said the port's executive director Mario Cordero.
Meanwhile, the US-China trade row threatens to snarl other multinational companies' supply lines and lower demand for their products as well. Companies such as General Motors, Caterpillar and Daimler have all said that trade tensions, combined with slower growth in China, were damaging their businesses.
'When the largest and second largest economies in the world get into a trade dispute, the rest of the world's going to feel the effects. That's what we're seeing now,' said Cresset Wealth Advisors chief investment officer Jack Ablin.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that Chinese money is increasingly flowing into Vietnam to escape its trade war with America. It reported that Chinese firms have begun looking at how to avoid US tariffs by shipping goods through Vietnam, which has fewer trade barriers with America.
'American retailers are stocking up on goods made in China to avoid anticipated higher tariffs,' said Mr Ablin. 'You're seeing the opposite effect on the other side of the ocean. Chinese businesses seem to be already looking to other countries for goods and raw materials, meaning there's less demand for American exports.'
WORLD SHIPPING