Tale of two Socal ports

The Port of Los Angeles had a strong April, as we posted on Tuesday, but the Port of Long Beach continues to see declines. Imports were down 9.7 percent and exports were down 10.2 percent. Overall container traffic was down 9.7 percent compared with a year earlier. One reason for the drop is that Long Beach lost one of its cargo terminals in 2010 when California United Terminals moved to the Port of Los Angeles. The growth outlook for 2012 is decent but not great, with the L.A. Economic Development Corp. forecasting a 3.9 percent increase in container traffic. From the EDC report:

Given the global economic outlook, total world trade is expected to increase by 3% to 4% in 2012, reflecting the recession in the euro zone and the slowdown in China. With the exception of Japan, nearly all of the Los Angeles Customs District's top trading partners should witness modest to robust economic growth in the forecast period.

Earlier: Big April at Port of L.A.