US Ports -- April 29, 2023

Locator: 44498E. 

A reader sent me this link: from chaos to quiet -- the two ports in San Pedro Harbor, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.

This is an incredible story.

First, a digression. 

Because of the blog, I have learned more about "everything" than I ever would have learned otherwise. Some subjects / issues that come to mind:

• Devon Energy
• semiconductors; the chip war
  
• the "streaming" war
  
• US beer
• US ports

Now, back to the story at hand.

After reading the story linked above, I did some of my own research (without the help of ChatGPT).

These are the links:

• statistics, 2022, Port of Los Angeles;
• 1Q23, statistics, 2023, Port of Los Angeles;
• Port of Los Angeles sees biggest decline since March, 2020;
• Port of Long Beach; annual statistics, 1969 to present year;
• Port of Long Beach: January'ss 28.4% drop; "new set of challengees";
• South Carolina ports, statistics;
• Port of Charleston sets cargo record in 2022;
• container volumes fall at most US ports; Port of Los Angeles sees 43% drop from February, 2022;

There are so many story lines here. I would like to talk about them, but I'm poolside, the evening is incredibly beautiful and I'm simply going to relax and listen to music.

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The Economy

The other day a reader sent me a link to a story that 75% of Americans think the economy is getting worse.

I replied, that the other 25% live in Texas.

Today, after the jiu-jitsu tournament, my wife and I went to have lunch at our favorite restaurant, at least for the moment) but we did not stop. There was not one open parking space in the very ample parking lot. We also knew that our second favorite restaurant would be even worse, so we had to explore a new restaurant. 

It certainly doesn't appear the economy is getting worse, at least not in north Texas.

We then went to the annual art festival in Southlake, TX. Talking to the vendors, it sounds like north Texas is one of their better venues on the national circuit.