Port of Los Angeles handles a record 1.04 million TEUs as shippers shift cargo away from the Panama and Suez routes
September was the busiest month in the port's 118-year history. Canal disruptions and fuel costs are pushing about 5% more cargo to Los Angeles at origin, and another early-2027 frontloading wave is likely.
Article summary
- Why it matters: Routing decisions made at origin decide which ports, rail ramps and warehouses your imports flow through. When cargo concentrates on one gateway, so do congestion risk and drayage and transload costs. Procurement teams buying freight and warehouse services should plan for continued West Coast volume into early 2027.
- What to do first: Book early for Q1 seasonal goods. If your categories are exposed to the truce expiry or Lunar New Year closures, plan orders and bookings earlier than usual.
- Secure drayage and transload capacity. Lock West Coast drayage and warehouse capacity for the first quarter before frontloading peaks.
- 1,042,652
- TEUs handled in September, an all-time monthly record
- +19%
- loaded imports, year over year
- ~5%
- more cargo allocated to LA at origin, per the port
- Jan. 10
- U.S.–China trade truce expiry cited as a frontloading driver
On this page
The details
The Port of Los Angeles moved 1,042,652 TEUs in September, the busiest month in its 118-year history and more than 20,000 TEUs above the previous record set in July 2025. Loaded imports rose 19% year over year to 545,696 TEUs, and loaded exports rose 10% to 125,751 TEUs. Empty containers reached 371,206 TEUs, also a record.
The July–September quarter was the port’s busiest, at nearly 3 million TEUs, and June through September was its strongest four-month stretch on record, at nearly 4 million. Through nine months, the port handled nearly 8.1 million TEUs, more than 3% ahead of 2025.
Executive Director Gene Seroka attributed the surge to resilient consumer demand, inventory replenishment and cargo shifting from other routes. “Consumer demand remains resilient, importers are replenishing inventories,” he said, adding that tariffs are lower than earlier in the year, which gives importers more certainty on costs. Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih, quoted in the port’s release, said, “Companies are moving from purely optimizing for cost to optimizing for options.” He said continued disruption on the Suez and Panama routes is leading to roughly 5% more cargo being allocated to Los Angeles at origin. Vessel fuel prices have roughly doubled over eight months, so longer routes cost more and carriers are passing those costs on.
The Panama Canal cut daily Neopanamax slots to nine from Sept. 3 because of El Niño-related drought concerns, then raised them to 10 after rainfall, according to an Oct. 9 advisory. From January to late September, 69 container vessels waited more than 100 hours to transit, compared with 13 in the same period of 2025.
Seroka expects another frontloading wave driven by an earlier Lunar New Year in the first week of February and the U.S.–China trade truce expiring Jan. 10.
What the port did not say. The port’s release gives no numeric forecast for the rest of the year and no year-over-year comparison for the record quarter. It also says nothing about rail operations or container dwell times, the two measures that decide whether a volume surge turns into delays for importers further inland. Mayor Karen Bass credited the ILWU workforce, and Seroka’s stated focus was to “finish the year strong.” Procurement teams that move freight through Los Angeles should ask their drayage providers and railroads for current dwell times rather than infer them from throughput.
What the record means for inland costs
By our calculation, a 19% rise to 545,696 loaded import TEUs means the port handled about 87,000 more loaded import containers in September than a year earlier, all of which needed drayage, rail or transload capacity inland. The record 371,206 empty containers, about three times loaded exports, show how one-sided the trade is: most boxes arrive full and leave empty. That imbalance is why inbound capacity, not the ship itself, tends to be the constraint during surges, and why chassis, drayage and transload rates in Southern California rise when volume spikes.
A first-quarter planning calendar
| When | What to plan |
|---|---|
| Now through November | Confirm Q1 ocean allocations and West Coast drayage and transload contracts |
| December | Expect frontloading ahead of the truce expiry and Lunar New Year |
| Jan. 10, 2027 | U.S.–China trade truce expires unless extended |
| First week of February 2027 | Lunar New Year; Asian factory output slows for several weeks around the holiday |
| February–March | Post-holiday restart; watch for blank sailings and gaps in arrivals |
This calendar is our planning guide built from the dates above.
Routing choices for 2027
| Route to the U.S. East and Midwest | Advantages | Current risk |
|---|---|---|
| Asia to Los Angeles/Long Beach, then rail or truck inland | Shortest ocean leg, deep capacity, record throughput | Inland rail and drayage capacity during surges; higher truckload rates |
| Asia to the East Coast via the Panama Canal | All-water, fewer handoffs | Limited Neopanamax slots and long waits in a dry year |
| Asia to the East Coast via Suez | Avoids the canal | Continued disruption and longer transits |
Our read: diversifying across at least two gateways is the cheapest insurance. Pricing differences between routes have narrowed as fuel costs rose, so reliability and inland costs should weigh more heavily than ocean rate alone.
What procurement teams should do
- Book early for Q1 seasonal goods. If your categories are exposed to the truce expiry or Lunar New Year closures, plan orders and bookings earlier than usual.
- Secure drayage and transload capacity. Lock West Coast drayage and warehouse capacity for the first quarter before frontloading peaks.
- Model routing alternatives. Compare all-water East Coast routings and West Coast plus rail on total landed cost, including fuel surcharges and transit variability.
- Watch the canal. Track Panama Canal advisories; another slot cut in the 2027 dry season would shift more cargo west.
What to watch next
- Panama Canal slots. Daily Neopanamax slots moved from nine to 10 after rain; further changes affect routing.
- Frontloading before Lunar New Year. An early-February holiday and the Jan. 10 trade-truce expiry could pull imports forward.
- Fuel costs. With vessel fuel prices roughly doubling in eight months, watch bunker surcharges in carrier invoices.
The bigger picture
Gateway choice is now a cost and risk decision driven by canals, fuel and trade policy. Procurement teams that review routing quarterly, rather than accepting forwarder defaults, can avoid paying for congestion that was visible weeks in advance. For carrier performance, see ocean schedule reliability.
Questions procurement teams are asking
Why are shippers moving cargo to the Port of Los Angeles?
Continued disruption on the Suez and Panama routes, drought concerns at the Panama Canal and vessel fuel costs that have roughly doubled are pushing shippers toward shorter routes into Los Angeles, according to the port's executive director.
Is the Panama Canal restricting traffic?
It cut daily Neopanamax slots to nine from Sept. 3 because of El Niño-related water concerns, then raised them to 10 after rainfall. El Niño is expected to peak between October and December, followed by the 2027 dry season.
How many containers did the Port of Los Angeles handle in September 2026?
1,042,652 TEUs, the busiest month in the port's 118-year history. Loaded imports rose 19% from a year earlier to 545,696 TEUs.
How busy was the Port of Los Angeles in September 2026?
It moved 1,042,652 TEUs, the busiest month in its 118-year history. Loaded imports rose 19% year over year to 545,696 TEUs, and the July–September quarter was its busiest ever at nearly 3 million TEUs.
Why is more cargo going through Los Angeles?
The port cites resilient consumer demand, inventory replenishment and cargo shifting from other routes. Disruption on the Suez and Panama routes is leading to roughly 5% more cargo being allocated to Los Angeles at origin, according to Harvard Business School's Willy Shih.
How we reported this
This story draws on 4 sources, listed below, and reflects figures as reported on October 14, 2026. The sections on why it matters and what procurement teams should do are Procurement Signal analysis. It is not legal or financial advice. See our editorial standards.
