The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together moved 2,039,829 TEUs in September, an all-time monthly record for the nation's largest port complex and the first time the two gateways have combined for more than 2 million boxes in a single month. More than 1.05 million TEUs of that total were loaded imports, moved without the congestion that paralyzed the same facilities during the pandemic.

Long Beach set the pace. The port handled 997,177 TEUs, up 25% year over year and surpassing its previous record of 987,191 TEUs set in October 2024, the port reported Thursday. It was the busiest month in the port's 115-year history.

"Shippers continue to lean on the Port of Long Beach as a reliable partner in their business strategies, leading to our historic month for cargo," said Port of Long Beach CEO Noel Hacegaba, speaking at the port's monthly Supply Chain Insight briefing.

Los Angeles answered with a record of its own: 1,042,652 TEUs, the highest monthly total in its 118-year history, announced last week.

What is driving the surge?

Imports led on both sides of San Pedro Bay. At Long Beach, imports climbed 31.3% from a year earlier to 509,390 TEUs, while exports rose 7.8% to 91,747 TEUs and empty container movements gained 22.1% to 396,040 TEUs. Los Angeles posted loaded import growth of 19%, to 545,696 TEUs, alongside 125,751 TEUs of exports and roughly 371,206 empty TEUs — all up on the year.

Port officials credited several forces converging at once:

• Resilient consumer demand and retailer inventory replenishment
• Lower U.S. tariffs encouraging import volumes
• Shippers rerouting away from Panama Canal draft restrictions and Suez Canal security risks
• High diesel prices making the shorter transpacific sailing to the U.S. West Coast comparatively cheaper

The routing effect matters for carriers and forwarders alike: every box diverted from all-water East Coast services via Suez or Panama to a transpacific string shifts capacity demand between trade lanes. For BCOs, the shorter West Coast routings cut transit time and fuel cost — a calculation high diesel prices have made harder to ignore.

Is the peak season finally over?

The record month arrives just as the National Retail Federation expects the unusually long peak shipping season to wind down. The NRF and Hackett Associates Global Port Tracker report, released October 8, projects imports at major U.S. container ports easing from 2.3 million TEUs in August to 2.28 million TEUs in September, then 2.25 million TEUs in October and 2 million TEUs in November.

"Even with any fluctuations in final data, we're likely past the busiest part of the year," said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy.

That forecast follows months of stronger-than-expected imports that stretched the traditional peak well into fall, defying earlier expectations of a mid-summer taper.

Can the terminals keep the fluidity?

So far, yes. Both ports report absorbing the added volume without pandemic-era congestion. At Long Beach, Total Terminals International set a new monthly rail record in September with 59,410 rail moves — nearly half the terminal's total container volume — a signal that inland connections, often the first bottleneck to break, are keeping pace.

The year-to-date numbers underline the trend. Long Beach has handled 7,675,255 TEUs through the first nine months of 2026, up 3.9% from the same period last year, while Los Angeles has processed nearly 8.1 million TEUs, more than 3% ahead of last year's pace.

Separately, and with an eye on sustaining that growth, Georgia Ports has secured federal approval for a $2.3 billion container terminal at the Port of Savannah that will add 3.5 million TEUs of capacity — a Gulf-Atlantic counterweight to the West Coast's record run.

If NRF's projections hold, the November slide toward 2 million TEUs should ease pressure on transpacific capacity and give West Coast terminals room to prove the September fluidity was structural, not seasonal.