An unprecedented surge in cargo volume lifted the Port of Long Beach to its busiest February on record. Terminal operators and dockworkers moved over 770,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 40% plus increase over February 2020 and marking the largest year-over-year increase for a single month in the Port’s 110-year history.

With the new U.S. administration, we are expecting a significant reversal in climate and environmental policies. At this point, we have already seen the new administration rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty focused on mitigating the impact climate change will have around the world. We anticipate this is not the first of sweeping changes that will impact the maritime industry.

According to an independent maritime research and consulting firm, Drewry, refrigerated container shipping is forecasted to outpace dry good container shipping by the end of 2021. They attribute this to the strength of the global food supply chain as well as the continued trade, both import and export of key food ingredients. Their report goes on to predict that reefer shipping will withstand current economic pressures, despite an expected tightening of the availability of refrigerated container equipment and will eventually reach over 150 million tons by the year 2024. This is an annual growth rate of close to 4 percent, faster than the expected growth in the dry cargo trade.