West Coast’s loss is the East Coast’s gain as volumes affected by labour disputes

Ports on the US West Coast suffered a decline in container volumes in January as the ongoing labour disputes ensured congestion continued to plague operations.

Some of these volumes have transferred to other US ports as the likes of Virginia and South Carolina on the East Coast excelled with double digit growth.

Normally one of the country’s busiest container ports, the Port of Long Beach reported an 18.8% fall in throughput with 429,490 teu handled compared to 528,884 teu in January last year.