The Port of Los Angeles moved 1.42 million TEUs in September — the best single month in its history and the highest monthly volume any port in the Western Hemisphere has ever recorded. Executive Director Gene Seroka announced the figure this week, then promptly warned that tariffs make the next two months hard to plan.

Three forces drove the surge, Seroka said: lower tariff levels, resilient consumer demand, and cargo shifting away from the constrained Panama Canal and Suez routings.

What do the numbers show?

September loaded imports reached 546,000 TEUs, up 19% year over year and 26% above the port's five-year average. Loaded exports rose 10% to 126,000 TEUs. The port also handled a record 371,000 empty containers as carriers repositioned equipment back to Asia.

The quarter was just as strong. July through September came in at nearly 3 million TEUs, the strongest quarter on record, and June through September moved nearly 4 million containers. Through September, 2026 volume stands at almost 8.1 million TEUs, up about 3% from the same period in 2025.

Seroka expects October to land around 900,000 TEUs. He cited typhoon-related schedule disruptions in Asia, cargo roll pools ahead of China's national holiday, and continued holiday-season replenishment as reasons volumes should stay elevated.

Where is the cargo coming from?

Sourcing patterns keep shifting. Vietnam is now the port's second-largest trading partner behind China, and Thailand has entered the top five for the first time. Vietnam-origin volume through Los Angeles has quadrupled over the past decade.

China's share of port business has fallen from 60% to 40%. Even so, Seroka said diversification has moved slower than many importers would like.

Willy Shih, a Harvard Business School professor who joined the media briefing, said companies are increasingly "optimizing for options" rather than chasing lowest cost, because frequent policy changes make long-term commitments difficult. Much of the apparent shift away from China reflects changes in final assembly, not a true reduction in upstream dependence — Vietnam and Mexico still rely heavily on Chinese components. Shih added that building comparable supplier networks in Mexico could take about a decade.

Why is cargo rerouting to LA?

Seroka said ocean carriers and shippers are moving more cargo to Los Angeles from Panama Canal routings, driven by drought-related transit constraints and higher fuel costs tied to the Middle East conflict. Shorter, faster transits have become more valuable. That rerouting, plus tariff timing, explains why a West Coast port is setting hemispheric records rather than simply riding a demand wave.

What does this change for shippers and forwarders? Rates and capacity decisions now hinge on policy deadlines as much as seasonal demand. Seroka said purchase orders in Asia remain solid, but November and December are difficult to forecast, with importers making rapid decisions based on cost, demand and tariff cutoffs.

Operations: smooth, with one watch item

The port is generally flowing well. Truck turns are healthy and large vessels are turning in about four days. The exception is rail: Seroka flagged rail dwell times as the metric requiring close monitoring as holiday cargo moves inland. For BCOs routing interior volumes via intermodal, that's the pinch point to watch through the peak.

The near-term trajectory is elevated volumes through October, then a forecast clouded by tariff deadlines — with Seroka's own warning that policy, not demand, now drives the planning risk.