Marine Support Services NAICS 4883

Jul 14, 2025 - Port of Los Angeles Imports Increase in June

• Imports to the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest US port, rebounded in June as retailers stocked up on holiday inventory in an effort to get ahead of potentially steeper tariffs later in the year. Incoming cargo to the port jumped 10% from the previous year after the US came to terms with China. It was also a 32% increase from May when imports cratered after a brief 145% import tax on Chinese goods. Shipping experts say the situation is likely as good as it will get this year since holiday orders have already been placed and manufactured and can’t be altered this late in the year. The National Retail Federation expects double-digit import declines from August through November due to additional potential tariff increases and order timing. The Trump administration plans to tariff Mexico and the EU by 30% starting August 1, sending the industry back into a scramble.
• An analysis of US ports by World Bank Group and S&P Global found only eight US ports rank in the top 100 of the world’s most efficient water entryways. The port of Charleston, South Carolina was the country’s most efficient, but still ranked at a somewhat lowly 52nd place. US port inefficiency is caused by a lack of automation in data systems and cargo equipment, resulting in longer wait times to process imports and exports. On an efficiency scale of 1 to 10, US ports scored an average of 3.7, while other nations averaged 7.9. Automation is critical to modern port operations, but such upgrades may not occur soon. The US averted a strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association in 2024 that would have crippled East Coast and Gulf ports by raising pay almost 60%, but the issue of automation was kicked down the road into 2025.

• Attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea and drought affecting the Panama Canal have created a “perfect storm” of disruption in global shipping, according to Mike Giambrone, an account executive at logistics provider OEC Group. The Red Sea is a critical shipping lane for cargo traveling through the Suez Canal, which accounts for about 12% of global trade, according to Giambrone. Approximately 30% of global container traffic traverses the Suez Canal, transporting $1 trillion of goods per year, according to the Government of New Zealand. Drought conditions in the Panama Canal, worsened by a severe El Nino, have severely impacted container ship traffic through that key trade route. The Panama Canal accounts for about 7% of global seaborne trade, according to the Wall Street Journal. “It’s really the East Coast and Gulf Coast markets that are going to see the results of this,” Giambrone said. He noted that when there’s a problem on the East Coast, shippers can transfer their capacity to the West Coast, but this can bring additional problems. Giambrone cited the post-COVID shipping surge that resulted in “a parking lot of container ships” at West Coast ports in 2021. Some ships were diverted to the East Coast to ease the congestion. “Then the East Coast started having serious congestion.”
• US waterway tonnage increased 2.3% year over year but decreased 2.9% month over month in June, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Marine support services slightly increased their prices during the first nine months of 2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Marine support service industry employment increased slightly during the first nine months of 2024, according to the BLS. Marine support service industry sales are forecast to increase at a 4.32% compounded annual rate from 2024 to 2028, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.