Port of Los Angeles Has Best Month Ever, Capping Four-Month Surge in TEUs

The Port of Los Angeles reported on Friday that it has just completed the strongest month in the port’s history, with container volumes dramatically ahead of last year and the port’s five-year average. It capped the strongest four-month stretch in the port’s history with expectations that volumes will continue strong as the fourth quarter begins.

“September was a month for the record books, and it was part of an extraordinary run for the Port of Los Angeles,” said Port Executive Director Gene Seroka. “Consumer demand remains resilient, importers are replenishing inventories, and more cargo is being allocated to Los Angeles as shippers navigate continued challenges along other global trade routes.”

The port handled a total of 1,042,652 TEU, which was a record, topping the prior record set in July 2025. Seroka highlighted that the volume was the highest ever to pass through any port in the Western Hemisphere. He said the increase of 23,000 TEU over July 2025’s volume was equal to two more full ship loads.

It was also the strongest quarter in the history of the Port of Los Angeles, handling nearly 3 million TEU. Adding June, the port handled nearly 4 million TEU over the four-month span.

The strong performance was driven by import volumes, which reached 545,696 TEU in September. Seroka highlighted that it was 19 percent ahead of September 2025 and 26 percent above the port’s five-year average for the month. He noted it was only the tenth time in the history of the port that it has handled that volume of imports, while noting no other U.S. port has ever reached those import volumes.

Exports, however, remained soft. They were up 10 percent, but Seroka feels exporters such as farmers are still facing a headwind.

He pointed to a window of lower tariffs versus the year earlier as creating an opportunity for shippers to move large volumes during the recent months. There was also a concern that the U.S. agreement with China was due to expire this fall, before it was extended last month. In addition, Seroka pointed to the U.S. economy, which he said is “still moving forward,” and consumers who are still buying.

Global issues ranging from the problems in the Middle East, Red Sea, and Suez Canal, as well as the restrictions on transits due to drought concerns at the Panama Canal, he believes are also helping the West Coast ports and specifically Los Angeles. Shippers, he said, are allocating more cargo to the Port of Los Angeles because of the interruptions elsewhere in the global supply chain.

The Port of Los Angeles has already handled 8.1 million TEUs in the first nine months of 2026, and the near-term outlook, Seroka said, is strong. He notes that typically there is a softening by this time of the year, but notes there are still cargo backlogs in China after two typhoons interrupted port operations.

The Port of Los Angeles expects volumes in the range of 900,000 TEU in October. November and December volumes, they said, are harder to predict, noting that shippers are responding quickly to global situations while retailers and importers have already built inventories.