The Port of Los Angeles moved 1,042,652 TEUs in September — the busiest single month in its 118-year history, and more than 20,000 TEUs above the previous record set just two months earlier in July 2025.

The number didn't come from nowhere. September capped the port's strongest quarter on record, with nearly 3 million TEUs handled between July and September, and closed a four-month stretch from June through September that moved almost 4 million TEUs — another all-time high.

Loaded imports did the heavy lifting: 545,696 TEUs in September, up 19% year on year. Loaded exports climbed 10% to 125,751 TEU. Even empties set a record, at roughly 371,206 TEUs, a signal that repositioning equipment is straining the network as much as the cargo itself.

What's driving the surge?

Executive Director Gene Seroka pointed to three forces. "Consumer demand remains resilient, importers are replenishing inventories and more cargo is being allocated to Los Angeles as shippers navigate continued challenges along other global trade routes," he said at the port's monthly media briefing.

Seroka also credited greater tariff certainty. Tariffs have fallen from levels seen earlier this year, which let importers get back to restocking shelves rather than guessing about landed costs. Disruptions on the Suez and Panama Canal routes have pushed additional volume onto transpacific strings that call at San Pedro Bay.

The pattern has confounded forecasters all year. Retailers front-loaded shipments early in 2020's trade turbulence, and most analysts expected the traditional late-summer peak to arrive early and then fade. It didn't fade. In September, the National Retail Federation revised its import forecast upward, predicting the month would be the busiest of the year for container imports at major U.S. ports — and Los Angeles delivered on that call.

For the first nine months of 2026, the port has handled nearly 8.1 million TEUs, more than 3% ahead of the same period last year.

What does this change for shippers and carriers?

For shippers, the practical question is capacity and dwell. Record volumes through a single gateway tighten trucking and transloading capacity in Southern California, and record empty repositioning means equipment is circling harder than usual. Importers still restocking into the fourth quarter may find drayage and warehouse slots tighter than rate sheets suggest.

For carriers, Los Angeles is absorbing share. Seroka was explicit that cargo is being reallocated to LA as other trade lanes struggle — a shift that supports transpacific load factors even while global routing remains scrambled by tariffs, high fuel costs and geopolitical disruption.

For forwarders, the lesson is forecasting humility. The late-summer surge that was supposed to arrive early and then taper simply stayed elevated, and the NRF's own September numbers had to be revised up to match reality on the waterfront.

Sourcing strategy is shifting too

Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih, speaking at the same briefing, argued the deeper change is behavioral. "Companies are moving from purely optimizing for cost to optimizing for options," Shih said. "With so much uncertainty in global trade, businesses are looking for greater flexibility in where they source, manufacture and move their goods."

That's a structural shift, not a seasonal one. If importers are building optionality into sourcing decisions, peak seasons become lumpier and harder to model — which complicates cargo forecasting for everyone downstream, from carriers rolling capacity to ports planning labor.

Can the pace hold?

Probably not at this level. The National Retail Federation's September forecast calls for U.S. import volumes to ease in October and November once the late-season surge works through the system. The record four-month run, in other words, likely borrowed some volume from the fourth quarter.

Seroka, for his part, is managing the finish. "Our waterfront workforce and supply chain partners have done a tremendous job handling these record volumes while keeping cargo moving," he said. "After the best month, quarter and four-month stretch in Port history, our focus is simple: finish the year strong and keep delivering for our customers."

With nine-month volumes already up 3% and the NRF pointing to a softer October and November, the question for the transpacific is whether Los Angeles has simply pulled demand forward — or whether tariff clarity and resilient consumer spending keep cargo flowing at a historic pace into year-end.