This week, ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach began to feel the impact of tariffs imposed on foreign goods by the Trump administration, and saw traffic and cargo cuts at US busiest ports on Monday.
Port officials have shown that traffic has dropped nearly half at two ports in Southern California, with fewer products and fewer jobs now from China to LA.
“We’re at the point of an inflection. That’s a bit disastrous,” Long Beach port CEO Mario Cordero said Monday. “What happens here is to show what happens in the supply chain. There are fewer calls to the vessels and fewer cargo now.”
The port of Long Beach reports that this week there has been a significant drop in traffic volume this week with 34 cancellation sailings from marine airlines to Long Beach. Nearby Port of Los Angeles also has 36 cancellations.
Things haven’t been that late since the coronavirus pandemic, Corello said.
“Covid has given us insight into what happens when the cargo stops. We certainly don’t want to repeat that scenario again,” he added.
The two ports that moved 20 million containers last year show a 44% decrease in vessels docked on May 4th compared to last year.
“When you start dialback because four containers mean work, that means fewer job opportunities,” LA CEO Port Jean Seloka predicted a sharp decline in employee docking work, no overtime or double the time, and less than 40 hours a week.
“There are fewer containers, fewer jobs, fewer truck driver businesses,” Cordero made a disastrous projection.
The Southern California truck driver has raised concerns in case work gets dry.
“It definitely brings uncertainty to anyone because we don’t know what will happen,” said a driver named Helen. “Anyway, a lot of people start to lose their jobs. They start to get fired.”
Few truck drivers and dock workers mean fewer shops and stores business including Bath 55, a nearby seafood deli.
Rafeal Arias Anaya, who works at the fish market, said he saw fewer truck drivers coming for lunch.
“There’s no victory situation for the kind of tariffs we’re seeing,” Cordero said, warning that consumers will soon feel the impact of being suppressed.
“For consumers, we are at risk of having products on the shelves in the coming months.”
Even if the Trump administration reaches deals with China and other foreign countries, it will still take about a month to get things back on track.
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