Business is booming at West Coast ports, helped by the strong U.S. dollar. Cargo volume at the Port of Long Beach surged nearly 36% last month, compared with the activity seen in February 2015. ‘Certainly the high dollar value relative to foreign currencies is making everything on sale in Asia,’ said Jon Slangerup, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, who expects to see continued volume growth. ‘We’re anticipating somewhere on the order of four to five percent growth this year,’ he said.
But Slangerup is seeing fewer goods being imported from China. ‘There’s no question that China is slowing down and in fact there’s a slight decrease in volume coming from China across the Pacific to the West Coast. Probably three percent or so,’ said Slangerup, who also has seen fewer shipments from Japan.