The Port of Los Angeles has just completed its busiest 3 consecutive months in its history, with the port handling 955,907 TEUs in August 2026, taking the combined volume for June, July, and August beyond 2.9 million TEUs..
That is a significant amount of cargo moving through one port in 90 days, especially in a trading environment where tariffs, fuel costs, freight rates, and sourcing decisions continue to shift..
Imports hold firm while exports decline
August cargo volumes were broadly in line with the same month last year and 6% higher than the Port’s 5-year August average./
The split though tells its own story:
- Loaded imports: 500,302 TEUs, nearly level with August 2025 and 7% above the 5-year average
- Loaded exports: 115,561 TEUs, down 9% year-on-year
- Empty containers: 340,044 TEUs, up 4% year-on-year
The imbalance between loaded imports and exports is nothing new for the major US gateway ports.. But 340,044 empty containers in a single month is still worth noticing..
Empty container movements are an operational necessity in container shipping.. Equipment must be repositioned to the locations where carriers expect the next round of export demand..
But they also take up terminal space, vessel slots, handling capacity, and inland transport resources without carrying revenue-generating cargo for the shipper..
For the first 8 months of 2026, Los Angeles handled just over 7 million TEUs, 1.5% ahead of the corresponding period last year and 5% above its 5-year pace..
The holiday cargo arrived early
According to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, several factors supported the strong summer, including resilient consumer demand, early holiday shipments, and a broad cargo mix..
“We’ve put together an exceptionally strong summer in Los Angeles,” he said..
Brian Dodge, President and CEO of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, added another useful piece of context during the Port’s monthly media briefing..
A substantial share of the merchandise intended for the US holiday season is already inside the country.. Retailers brought cargo forward amid uncertainty surrounding tariffs, fuel prices, and other supply chain pressures.. Further imports will depend partly on how quickly stocks move and whether retailers need to replenish them..
So August’s numbers should not automatically be read as evidence that every month ahead will follow the same curve.. Some of the usual peak-season cargo has simply entered the supply chain earlier..
This also connects with what we saw in Dimerco’s September APAC Freight Report.. Demand may be softening in parts of Asia Pacific, but that does not necessarily mean rates, capacity, or space will move in the same direction..
Some of the Transpacific demand that would normally appear later in the peak season has already moved, while carriers continue adjusting capacity through blank sailings..
The Los Angeles numbers now show what that earlier movement looks like at the receiving end..
Freight rates are only one part of the routing decision
One of Seroka’s more interesting observations concerned the relationship between ocean freight rates and the total cost of moving cargo..
He noted that trans-Pacific freight rates into the US West Coast currently favour routings through East Coast ports. On the ocean leg alone, another gateway may therefore appear cheaper..
But an importer does not buy only an ocean voyage. The cargo must still move from the port to its final market..
The speed with which containers can move through Los Angeles and connect with rail services can alter the overall economics, particularly for importers serving inland destinations across the United States..
A cheaper ocean rate can lose some of its shine if the cargo then spends longer at the terminal or takes a slower, more expensive route inland..
This is where routing decisions often go wrong.. The comparison stops at port-to-port freight instead of examining the complete movement: ocean freight, terminal time, rail or truck availability, inland transit, inventory requirements, and the commercial cost of delay..
Volume is one measure, flow is another
The headline belongs to the 2.9 million TEUs handled over 3 months.. The more important operational question is how effectively those containers moved through the port and into the wider US logistics network..
Large volumes are impressive.. Large volumes moving reliably through terminals, rail connections, warehouses, and distribution centres are commercially useful..
Los Angeles enters the final months of 2026 with strong momentum.. Seroka said September was also developing into another strong month and that the Port was well positioned as trade patterns continued to change..
The next test will be whether this historic summer represents sustained cargo strength, or whether some of the traditional peak was merely pulled forward by importers unwilling to gamble with tariffs and supply chain disruption..
