Port of Long Beach reports stellar 2020, moving 8.1M cargo container units despite COVID-19

Mario Cordero, Port of Long Beach Executive Director, joins Yahoo Finance's Sibile Marcellus to discuss the port's strong 2020 data, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video Transcript

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Now, the Port of Long Beach had its busiest year on record. That's despite the coronavirus pandemic. How did they pull it off? To answer that question, I want to bring in Mario Cordero. He's the Port of Long Beach's executive director.

Mario, I view activity at the Port of Long Beach as a barometer of how consumers are feeling in terms of how many goods they want to bring in. Now, we saw at the start of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, we saw that many Americans were pulling back on ordering goods. So we saw less activity at the Port. But we saw that really pick up in December. What's behind all that?

MARIO CORDERO: Well, thank you, Sibile, for reaching out to the Port of Long Beach. I think clearly the consumer demand that we were questioning at the beginning of the year really picked up the second half of the year. So along with the typical spending that we do for the holiday season, the school year, and of course, the replenishment of the warehousing, the inventory that had to be done, I think all that leads to the surge. So the question is, what happens in 2021?

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Absolutely, what happens in 2021? So what are your expectations in the months ahead? We actually heard incoming President Joe Biden, he's announcing a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. So that's a major infusion into the US economy. So you think that's really going to hold up over the next couple of months for the Port of Long Beach?

MARIO CORDERO: Well, as you've indicated, we have additional stimulus by the federal government. That's definitely going to mitigate and help the situation here in terms of not only our economy, but again, assisting those Americans who have really been impacted by COVID. So at the end of the day, the track of COVID-19 is going to be very much a big factor in terms of how 2021 looks like.

But I will say, given the vaccine and the distribution efforts that are being made, particularly by the incoming administration, I believe that, again, 2021 will be a positive year compared to what we experienced here as a nation in the economy in 2020.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And obviously, you're not a public health official. You're not related at all to that response in the rollout of the vaccines. But how concerned are you in terms of activities at the port and kind of looking at the overall outlook of the US economy, given the slow vaccine rollout we've seen so far?

MARIO CORDERO: Well, I am concerned. I mean, number one, we've seen that despite the surge that we experienced in the fourth quarter here 2020, a record surge, by the way, there is now a drop in consumer demand. And I think all of this is dependent in terms of where the economy, the direction, more infusion by the federal government in terms of a stimulus.

And again, I think, again, with regard to my concerns, immediately right now, I have a real concern regarding the vaccine distribution that needs to be had in the waterfront here to the men and women who are working in the waterfront at our ports in the nation. Because this operation essentially never stopped during the COVID crisis here. So in that regard, I have a real concern with regard to, again, making sure men and women in the waterfront are vaccinated.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Absolutely. It's very important for them to be vaccinated. Have you gotten any indication from the federal government? Obviously, we're going through a transition, Biden is not in office just yet.

But in terms of timing, when workers at the port are going to be vaccinated. And what kind of measures have they been taking during this whole period of time? Have they been wearing the masks? I mean, how does it work? Hand sanitizers, as they're shipping the boxes?

MARIO CORDERO: Sure, well, I can say, first of all, our mayor here, Robert Garcia, and our governor, Governor Newsom, are putting a priority on this. I have a lot of optimism with the new administration coming in. As you've seen, they have basically given a directive that we're going to distribute as much of the vaccine as possible at this point.

So I do hope that, again, because of the advocacy has been had, that I would think that within the next six weeks we'll start having some form of distribution in the complex here, at least on the waterfront. I know there's a prioritization with regard to age. And of course, I want to make clear, I'm tremendously supportive of the first priority being our men and women in public safety and those people out there in the medical community, nurses, doctors who have been on the forefront of this crisis with the COVID health pandemic.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And do you expect that towards the bottom half of 2021 that activity at the port will really pick up? Or do you think it really picked up at the end of 2020 because the pandemic was still going on?

MARIO CORDERO: Well, I think it picked up at the end of 2020 for a mirage-- various reasons. I think one of the bright spots that we have seen is the increase of e-commerce. You know, three out of four Americans have now indicated they did participate in online purchasing during the global crisis.

Now, as a result of all this, again, there is optimism that our economy is going to go in the right direction. But I'm not prepared to say that 2021, let's say, for example, fourth quarter of 2021 is going to be better than fourth quarter 2020 with regard to the volumes of imports we have seen. So it remains to be seen. Again, the big factor here is whether the COVID virus, how much are we going to be able to control it in terms of the time span here between now and the first half of the year?

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Well, we'll definitely continue to monitor it. Mario Cordero, thanks so much.

MARIO CORDERO: Thank you so much, Sibile.