According to numbers posted on the website of the Pacific Maritime Association, total loaded containers, both imports and and exports, moving through the West Coast in October were down less than 1 percent from October 2014.
Imports increased 1.4 percent year-over-year, but exports declined 4.4 percent. Exports have been weak all year due to the strong dollar, which makes U.S. goods more costly, and weak economies in China, Japan and most European countries. The U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday that exports in October dropped to the lowest level in more than four years.
