LOS ANGELES – In 2017, the Port of Los Angeles moved more cargo than during any time in its 110-year history, racking up 9,343,192 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), a 5.5 percent increase over 2016’s record-setting volumes.

“While we exceeded volume expectation in 2017, it was not by chance,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. “Our growth is a direct result of a concerted, multi-year effort by the Port and its many partners to maximize efficiency throughout the supply chain. All the collaborative work by a broad range of global maritime stakeholders has delivered these remarkable results.”

• Watch Executive Director Gene Seroka’s 2018 State of the Port of Los Angeles address

Supply chain efficiencies implemented by the Port in 2017 included technology upgrades, like the new “Port Optimizer” digital information portal developed by the Port in collaboration with GE Transportation.

Commercially available to other ports later this year, GE Transportation’s Port Optimizer aggregates key cargo data online to facilitate better cargo tracking, projections and productivity. Infrastructure upgrades like those completed at TraPac Container Terminal and Yusen Terminals, Inc. during 2017 continue to boost the Port’s ability to service the largest vessels in the Transpacific and more efficiently facilitate cargo movement throughout Port terminal facilities.

In other cargo categories, vehicle shipment volumes were up by 19 percent in 2017, scrap metal rebounded by 13 percent, steel slab imports decreased by 6.2 percent on the rising US dollar, winter fruit shipments were down by 5.5 percent and liquid bulk volumes were up nearly 6.1 percent. Southern California refineries cut production for necessary maintenance and upgrades.