A truck goes through shipping containers at the port of Los Angeles.
Mark RALSTON | AFP | Getty images
A new wave of ocean freight from China is starting to arrive at the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, an increase in the flow of shipping containers aimed at beat potential price increases. President Trump imposed a deadline of August 12 for the United States and China to accept a trade agreement.
In recent days, the ship’s monitoring service managed by the marine exchange of Southern California and the Coast Guard has shown an increase in shipping ships: Friday (64), Saturday (68) and Sunday (64).
“This is a fairly solid forecast of an increase in container ships in the coming in two weeks,” said Captain J. Kipling (KIP) Louttit, executive director of MX Socal. He said that it was the largest number of container ships on the path of the most popular ports in the country since January 2025 (the previous summits were in July and September 2024).
The forecasts of the coming weeks include the average of container ships from the great range of Asia which are 16 days, those who come from Oakland and San Diego which one day left, and others on the way from the Panama canal, South America and Mexico, Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska, with transit times between the two.
The increase in containers was expected and the officials stopped describing it as a “push”. There is no expectation of high levels supported – the ocean freight booking orders dropped after a few weeks of increased orders. There is no expectation of congestion in the ports of the west coast, due to the recent sweetness of containers. The trade war has led many American importers to take a break on orders, and ships arriving in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach before the new wave was full.
The long Beach port terminals operate at around 60% of the capacity. Mario CORDERO, CEO of the Port de Long Beach, told CNBC that the port is well prepared to manage the expected increase in ship traffic in the coming weeks and beyond.
The navigations canceled in Long Beach – Many shipments canceled the planned trips for freight ships at the start of this year during the first stages of Trump’s trade war – are down, from June 18 scheduled to only 4 for July and August combined, said Cordero.
“We have coordinated closely with the terminal operators, the work and our other partners to ensure that they have what they need while we are impatiently awaiting the flow of freight. We welcome the additional cargo and await a resolution of the problems of commercial policy which led to so much uncertainty for sender,” he added.
The Los Angeles port terminals operate at 70% of the capacity. Gene Seroka, executive director of the port of Los Angeles, noted in its monthly container update that the port would see certain high -season signs of orders in July arrivals. But he added: “The retailers do not tell me that they are increasing inventory levels to have large selections on products starting this week of Thanksgiving and operating until the end of the year. So I don’t see that either.”
The terminals of the port of Los Angeles operate less than 30% of the cargo on the quays today than at the top during the cocvid. “We have a lot of room to manage the cargo,” said Seroka in the update.
The coming ships should be full. This increase in containers will be a boost for trucking, rail and warehouse paths that are paid by freight load.
Seroka told CNBC that the increase in cargo in recent weeks compared to May “has given more people to work on our quays”.
He added that the flow of freight is still lower than normal for the month of June, and “there are imminent deadlines for commercial negotiation in July and August which will have an impact on volume forecasts for the rest of the year”.
