The Port of Long Beach finished 2024 with record cargo volume, surpassing the previous year's figures and also exceeding the record set in 2021.

The Port ended last year handling 9,649,724 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo, up 20.3% from a year earlier.

This is also a 2.8% increase from the previous record of more than 9.3 million TEUs moved in 2021.

 [Source: Port of Long Beach]

For the period, imports rose 24.3% to 4,729,552 TEUs, and exports declined 5.9% to 1,207,036 TEUs compared to 2023.

Empty containers moving through the Port were up 26.6% to 3,713,137 TEUs. 

For December alone, Port of Long Beach saw its "most active December" by moving 861,006 TEUs, up 21.3% from the same month a year earlier, surpassing the previous record set in December 2020 by 5.5%.

Imports jumped 23.9% to 412,876 TEUs, and exports were down 2.8% to 100,792 TEUs from December 2023.

Empty containers moving through the Port increased 27.3% to 347,338 TEUs.

The Port noted that December also marked its seventh consecutive monthly year-over-year cargo increase.

It was also the Port's busiest quarter overall, with 2,732,351 TEUs moved between October 1 and December 31, breaking the previous record set during the third quarter of 2024 by 4%.

Meanwhile, the Port of Long Beach also noted the successes of its 2005 Green Port Policy.

Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero said the port's record-setting 2024 cargo containers were moved with zero disruptions or backlogs, and the port is making progress in transitioning operations to zero emissions while marking air quality improvements and other environmental benefits in the past 20 years.

"For those in 2005 who questioned our environmental resolve, the data shows otherwise. For those who said a Green Port wouldn't be able to compete commercially, the facts show otherwise. And today, for those who still doubt us, we are proving you wrong every single day," Cordero said, adding that the port achieved environmental progress and commercial success.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson also pointed out that "no enterprise in Long Beach epitomizes the move away from fossil fuels to clean, alternative energy more than [the Port of Long Beach]."

"The Port is moving more cargo than ever before in ways that are cleaner than ever. We're electrifying port infrastructure, cargo-moving equipment, trucking and rail operations," he said.

The Long Beach Harbor Commission adopted the Green Port Policy in January 2005 to reduce harmful impacts from port operations and safeguard the health of people living in Long Beach and surrounding communities, protect wildlife and the natural habitat, and engage the community to ensure that the Port lives up to these commitments.
 
The Green Port Policy resulted in a range of sustainability initiatives that resulted in a cleaner harbour, green building practices and, most notably, air quality improvements resulting from reductions in emissions.

So far, the Port of Long Beach said diesel emissions have been down 92%, nitrogen oxides by 71%, sulfur oxides by 98%, and greenhouse gases by 17% since 2005.