Port traffic a mixed bag due to strike

Combined activity at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach was down in November compared with a year earlier - 3 percent for inbound traffic and 7.5 percent for outbound. But the results for each port were noticeably different: L.A. was down 16 percent, while Long Beach was up 20.8 percent. From the Press-Telegram:

The Nov. 27 strike, which longshoremen honored, started at the Port of Los Angeles and spread to Long Beach a day later. It lasted seven days and effectively shut down three of six terminals in Long Beach and seven of eight in Los Angeles. The shutdown left several ships waiting in the water to dock; several ships were also diverted to ports in Oakland, Mexico and Panama. Long Beach was not as significantly affected by the strike, Port of Long Beach spokesman Art Wong said. "Some of those ships that would have gone to the closed terminals went over to the open terminals, so we were far less impacted than L.A.," Wong said.

Once the strike was settled, port activity was ramped up at both facilities, most likely limiting the overall economic impact.