Significant volume surge at the Port of Los Angeles with a rise in containers of nearly 14% per today’s news release,

The Port of Los Angeles has released its June 2014 containerized cargo volumes. In June 2014, overall volumes increased 13.89 percent compared to June 2013. Total cargo for June was 736,438 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), the largest volume in monthly containers since September 2012.

Container imports rose 16.55 percent, from 328,324 TEUs in June 2013 to 382,666 TEUs in June 2014. Exports rose 8.51 percent, from 148,203 TEUs in June 2013 to 160,823 TEUs in June 2014.

Combined, total loaded imports and exports increased 14.05 percent, from 476,528 TEUs in June 2013 to 543,489 TEUs in June 2014. Factoring in empties, which increased 13.4 percent year over year, overall June 2014 volumes (736,438 TEUs) rose 13.89 percent compared to June 2013 (646,650 TEUs).

For the first six months of calendar year 2014, overall volumes (4,052,227 TEUs) have increased 9.2 percent compared to the same period in 2013. June closed out the Port’s 2013-2014 fiscal year with a total increase of 5.55 percent compared to the previous fiscal year.

Good news with one interesting footnote from DC Velocity that could account for part of the volume,

Phillip Sanfield, a port spokesman, said last month’s strong import volumes were due in part to cargo entering U.S. commerce earlier than usual ahead of a possible labor strike or management lockout at West Coast ports…Sanfield said there is no way at this time to quantify the role of labor concerns in influencing June’s traffic data. “Perhaps we’ll know more about the impact after July and August volumes come in.”

Irrespective of this potential impact, the same article reports that terminal operators expectations are, “to see an increase in the number of mega-container ships calling the port.” Here is the monthly table: