The Port of Los Angeles handled 1,042,652 TEUs in September — the busiest month in its 118-year history and its first time above the one-million-box mark — as loaded imports surged 19% year on year.

The record beat the port's previous monthly high, set in July 2025, by more than 20,000 TEUs. It also capped an extraordinary run of volume: nearly 3 million TEUs moved across Los Angeles docks from July through September, the port's strongest quarter ever, and nearly 4 million TEUs from June through September, its best four-month stretch.

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

What drove the record month?

Loaded imports reached 545,696 TEUs in September, up 19% from a year earlier. Loaded exports rose 10% to 125,751 TEUs. Empty-container repositioning hit roughly 371,206 TEUs — itself the highest monthly total in port history, a signal that carriers are aggressively rebalancing equipment back to Asia to feed continued export demand from origin markets.

Port Executive Director Gene Seroka told a media briefing the surge rests on three pillars:

• resilient consumer demand;
• inventory replenishment by importers;
• shippers allocating more freight to Los Angeles amid disruption on other global trade routes.

"September was a month for the record books, and it was part of an extraordinary run for the Port of Los Angeles," Seroka said.

The volumes defied considerable headwinds. Cargo kept flowing through economic uncertainty, elevated interest rates, chaotic tariff policy and assorted geopolitical shocks — evidence, in Seroka's framing, that underlying demand on the trans-Pacific lane has stayed firm even as shippers absorbed cost and policy volatility.

Tariff relief unlocked inventory rebuilding

A key commercial shift sits behind the numbers. Seroka said tariffs had fallen from the levels seen earlier this year, giving importers greater cost certainty and freeing them to rebuild inventories rather than hold back orders. That restocking impulse, layered on continued consumer spending, translated directly into front-loaded container volumes through San Pedro Bay.

Seroka also pointed to challenges along the Suez and Panama Canal routes as a contributor. Displacement of cargo flows from those corridors has worked in Los Angeles's favor, with shippers steering boxes toward the US West Coast gateway to avoid schedule risk elsewhere.

For carriers, the implications are twofold. The 19% import jump confirms the extended peak season on the trans-Pacific held longer than many forecasts assumed, supporting vessel utilization and rate levels into the autumn. For shippers and forwarders, the record empty-container flow suggests equipment is being pulled out of Southern California quickly — a dynamic worth watching for inland exporters who have faced periodic box shortages during demand spikes.

Political credit and labor recognition

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the port's performance reinforced its role as a local and national economic engine. She credited Seroka's leadership and singled out the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for handling the cargo surge without disruption to terminal operations.

"Los Angeles is strong because our Port is strong, and none of this would be possible without our talented, dedicated, and skilled workforce," Bass said.

The clean labor picture matters commercially. With the ILWU keeping pace through the busiest month in port history, Los Angeles avoided the congestion narratives that have historically pushed cargo to Gulf and East Coast alternatives during West Coast contract disputes.

What comes next for the gateway?

The port enters the final quarter of 2026 with momentum: a 3% year-to-date gain, falling tariff friction, and importers whose replenishment cycles appear to have legs. Retailer reporting suggests the extended peak shipping season is now winding down, which points to softer month-over-month volumes ahead — but Seroka has indicated the port is eyeing a strong finish to the year, and the demand and trade-route fundamentals that produced September's record remain largely intact.