Officials at the bellwether Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are bemoaning the apparent lack of a peak season. According to the Los Angeles Times, port representatives have indicated that the annual “surge in holiday cargo headed to retailers’ shelves, which usually begins in August, is still nowhere to be seen.”
Both ports reported an unexpected decrease in cargo traffic and imports in September, and attribute it, not surprisingly, to a weakened world economic recovery and the continued threat of a double dip recession.
The full article, “Cargo surge takes a holiday at L.A., Long Beach ports,” is available here.
Sadly this problem extends beyond LA/LB. http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/retails-economic-indicator-u-s-port-traffic-slowdown.html/