The head of Long Beach, the second largest port in the United States, predicted that the hot consumer demand during the epidemic was cooling down, and the arrival of inbound containers in the United States began to decrease significantly.

It is understood that the imports of Long Beach Port in the United States have declined for two consecutive months. At the same time, in August, the inbound cargo volume of the nearby Los Angeles port showed the largest decline. Together, the two ports handle about 40 per cent of container trade from Asia.

Mario Cordero, Executive Director of Long Beach Port, said recently: "The US economy may cool down. We expect that this consumer demand will decline in the past year and a half."

The latest data show that US consumer spending and retail sales are growing slowly. This shows that the worst inflation in the past 40 years is beginning to affect the economy.

For several months, the port has been flooded by a large influx of goods, which has led to supply chain congestion and delivery delays. However, due to improved logistics and rising interest rates, this situation is showing signs of easing.

Cordero expects that the peak season of this year will be July, which is earlier than the normal year, because retailers hope to avoid the logistics nightmare again during the Christmas and New Year holidays at the end of the year.

He pointed out that although Long Beach had cooled down in the second half of this year, this year will still be a strong year.

Long Beach Port is one of the 29 ports on the west coast of the United States waiting for the outcome of the labor negotiation between the International Union of Terminals and Warehousing Unions and the West Coast Maritime Association of the United States.

The trade union represented 22000 dock workers and negotiated with associations representing more than 70 employers.

Since the last contract expired on July 1, these employees have been working without contracts, and both parties vowed to avoid a repeat of the 2014 negotiations.

That negotiation led to nine months of transportation interruption and delay in the United States, which was not ended until the intervention of the Obama administration.

Previously, the number of containers in the busiest port of Los Angeles in the United States was the largest drop since the beginning of the epidemic last month. This early sign suggests that consumer demand may begin to slow.

(Related reading: The import volume of Los Angeles Port dropped sharply in August)

The port said recently that the number of inbound loaded containers at Los Angeles Port decreased by 17%, the largest drop since May 2020, about 404000 fewer than last month, and the number of imported containers is the smallest so far this year.