Port of Oakland handled 120,433 TEUs in June, representing a 26.5% decline compared with the same month last year.
Full imports dropped 30.6% to 66,295 TEUs and full exports experienced a 20.8% decline, reaching 54,138 TEUs.
Additionally, empty exports went down by 40.9% to 23,879 TEUs, while empty imports declined by 2.3% to 11,516 TEUs in June 2023.
Importers continue to send cargo to East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, said the Californian port in a statement, in response to the uncertainty of labour negotiations between the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).
“Now that an agreement has recently been reached, hopes are that cargo is more likely to return to US West Coast ports,” noted a port of Oakland official.
“Although cargo has begun to return to the West Coast, weak consumer demand and high inventory levels continue to be headwinds to volume recovery,” stated Port of Oakland maritime director, Bryan Brandes, pointing out that “however, operational improvements, the return to normalcy, and the settlement of labour contracts creates an opportunity for us to gain a greater market share of containerised cargo.”
