LA and Long Beach Ports Report Strong Q1 2026 Results

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach moved nearly 4.8 million TEUs of cargo in the first quarter of 2026, a dip from last year’s record pace but still well ahead of historical norms.

The numbers reflect exactly what port leaders anticipated. Shippers rushed to front-load imports throughout 2025, scrambling to beat President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods from most major trade partners. That surge inflated last year’s baseline, making any comparison unflattering. Strip out the outlier, and the San Pedro Bay ports are performing in line with their longer trajectory.

“Even with the seasonal slowdown tied to Lunar New Year, cargo flow in March was solid and our first quarter performance was consistent with our five-year trend,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said at his monthly media briefing. “Consistency matters, and we’re staying ahead of things so our waterfront workers and partners can continue to deliver reliable, efficient operations for our customers.”

March numbers tell the story plainly. Dockworkers at the Port of Los Angeles handled 752,520 TEUs for the month, down just 3% from last year. That figure included 380,733 loaded import TEUs, a 1% decline, and 132,129 loaded export TEUs, which actually gained 7%. The export uptick is worth watching. A 7% rise in outbound containers while imports hold nearly flat suggests U.S. exporters are still finding markets despite the tariff friction grinding through the global economy.

Long Beach posted comparable numbers. Dockworkers there moved 774,935 TEUs in March, down 5.2%. Loaded imports came in at 374,412, a 1.6% drop, while loaded exports reached 104,554, up 0.5%. The remaining share of TEUs in both ports moved as empty containers flowing in either direction.

Modest declines.

But the Port of Long Beach still claimed a notable distinction. The port earned the title of the nation’s busiest container port for the first three months of the year. That ranking matters for the region’s commercial real estate market, where warehouse and industrial demand around the 710 corridor tracks directly with port throughput.

The bigger uncertainty isn’t the tariff hangover. It’s the Strait of Hormuz.

Most imports through San Pedro Bay originate from East Asian manufacturing hubs, including China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Those routes don’t pass through the Middle East. But fuel prices do respond to what happens in those waters, and prolonged conflict involving Israeli, Iranian, and other regional forces has already strained shipping costs globally.

Noel Hacegaba, the chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, told reporters that Middle Eastern instability hasn’t cut cargo volumes yet. “Despite these global pressures, the conflict has not yet reduced cargo volumes at the Port of Long Beach,” Hacegaba said. “What we’re seeing instead is the impact of tariffs and timing and the comparison to a strong baseline the year before.”

He didn’t leave it there.

“When ships are being rerouted to avoid conflict zones, it sets off a chain reaction,” Hacegaba said. “Cargo has to move differently. Routes get longer. Costs go up. And ultimately, consumers pay more.”

That chain reaction matters for Burbank and the broader Valley economy more than people recognize. The LA Business Journal reported that the San Pedro Bay ports have historically served as the entry point for roughly a third of all U.S. imports. Distribution networks radiating out from those docks feed the warehouse clusters along the 5 and 14 corridors, employing thousands of logistics workers who live throughout the north Valley. When port volumes hold steady, vacancy rates in industrial Burbank stay tight. When they slip, landlords notice within two quarters.

For now, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics data on freight flows backs what Seroka and Hacegaba are both saying: the system is absorbing the tariff shock without cratering. The Port of Los Angeles monthly statistics show the five-year trend line still pointing upward even if the 2025 peak sits above it like an outlier data point nobody wants to explain in an earnings call.

The practical takeaway for local commercial property owners is that industrial demand around regional distribution networks doesn’t appear to be softening in any structural way yet. The tariff-driven pull-forward that made 2025 look extraordinary has faded, but the underlying consumer appetite driving imports through Los Angeles and Long Beach has not collapsed. Both port executives confirmed their March numbers landed where their models expected, which is exactly the kind of dull consistency that keeps occupancy rates stable and lease renewals from getting complicated.