Ports still slow

September container traffic coming into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach shows little sign of any pickup - really just a continuation of a year-long pattern of declines. With consumers not anxious to spend, retailers have been careful about ordering for the holiday season. There are some signs of a tech revival (witness Intel's earnings report this week), so it will be worth keeping an eye on inbound traffic over the coming months. For now, the Port of L.A. saw overall traffic fall 15.8 percent from September 2008, and Long Beach saw a 20.6 percent drop. The only reasonably encouraging stat was outbound cargo from the Port of L.A., which only fell 2.2 percent. That would affirm a recent pickup in export activity, perhaps the result of the falling dollar. But outbound traffic out of Long Beach was down a hefty 15.7 percent in September, so I wouldn't pin my hopes on exports.