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LA Port sees 10 million-container year in sight with a steady October

November 18, 2025

Amid an ongoing economic climate of uncertainty, the Port of Los Angeles still looks within range of topping the 10 million container mark by the end of the 2025 calendar year.

Port Executive Director Gene Seroka, in his monthly news briefing on Tuesday, Nov. 18, rolled out the port’s October numbers, but continued to express the view that November and December numbers will likely soften.

“With six weeks to go,” he said, “we are within reach of the 10 million container unit-mark for the year.”

After 10 months, the port processed 8,655,489 TEUs, 2% more than last year for the same month.

“If we reach that milestone,” he added, “it would be the third time in our history and something no other Western Hemisphere port has achieved even once.”

October 2025 loaded imports came in at 429,283 TEUs, 7% less than last year. Loaded exports landed at 123,768 TEUs, 1% more than 2024. The Port handled 295,380 empty container units, 8% less than last year.

In 2024, shippers were sending in large amounts of cargo ahead of schedule as a hedge against tariffs, causing warehouse inventories to fill up well before the fall and holiday periods.

Seroka’s guest this month, Jennifer Barrera, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, said there remains an “uncertainty that all employers and businesses are feeling” as 2025 comes to a close. Some are able to pivot predicting possible impacts of tariffs and making forecasts, she said.

But there remains an overall concern about the direction of the economy as 2026 approaches, she said.

Whether “changes will be long-term or will change with negotiations,” she said, is often impossible to calculate as importers try to gauge when goods need to be shipped.

“It’s a challenging time for sure,” Barrera said.

Also key for the state of California, she said, is reigning in plans that could cause more financial pain to California residents who have seen their cost of living rise.

To that end, the chamber is sponsoring a state ballot initiative — “Building an Affordable California Act” — which with enough signatures could appear on the Nov. 3, 2026, statewide ballot. It seeks to streamline the state’s environmental review process under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). If passed it could impact projects that support clean energy, housing, infrastructure, and pubic safety.

The aim, Barrera said, is “not doing anything to make the situation worse.”

It also would call for evaluating policies that “while well-intentioned,” she said, “could be creating some challenges.” Among them, Barrera added, are energy policies and reassessing projects that could ‘”impact our cost of living” — but still may be accomplished by doing things differently in some cases.

Asked about the port outlook in 2026, Seroka said there isn’t enough information to project the future. In the past year, he said there have been “more than 110 announcements” on trade and tariffs emanating from Washington.

“Cargo really came to a halt,” he said, but added that when policies were loosened and deadlines extended, importers were able to work with those windows.

“2026 may yield a little more stability,” Seroka said. “I don’t think there will be (as many tariff) announcements.”

As for how business sectors are faring, Seroka said it’s not all equal.

Some are seeing upticks in business while “others have seen a decline in economic growth.”

One example, he said, was McDonald’s, the fast-food chain that was “hit exceptionally hard by rising costs and lower consumer demand. Different sectors are not always moving in parallel.”

Earlier this month, on Nov. 7, Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero described 2025 as a year of uncertainty, but also one that brought stronger cargo numbers than originally predicted in the early months.

“For the months of November and December,” he said during a virtual news conference, “I think we’re going to see a reduced volume but we have a good chance of breaking even with the numbers from last year.”

The port had a record year for cargo volumes in 2024, Cordero said.

This year, though, has been characterized by uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariffs, prompting importers to ship early in 2025 to avoid the added costs that could come later, Cordero said.

The port released its October cargo numbers earlier this month, with the data showing POLB has been moving containers ahead of the record-setting pace seen last year, largely because retailers ordered and shipped early. Cargo filled warehouses before tariffs and reciprocal tariffs were implemented in the spring.

Looking ahead to the holiday shopping season, Cordero said, a robust Black Friday is anticipated.

Orange County Register

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LA Port sees 10 million-container year in sight with a steady October

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