May 2, 2025 • 8 mins
Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka shares his outlook for shipping and imports amid growing trade concerns. He speaks with hosts Tom Keene and Paul Sweeney
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg, Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Jeans Soroca, where the Garcetti appointment in twenty fourteen has
the most important job in America right now.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Everyone on Global Wall Street.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Wants this view. We're honored off the Red Eye that
the gentlemen of Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports join
us this morning. Just thank you so much for joining
Bloomberg this morning. As simple as I can make it,
what is a single thing you would say today to
the long sharman of Long Beach in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We're going to get through this, even though we're going
to be down by thirty five percent next week on
cargo volume coming into the port compared to last year
thirty five percent. Major retailers, big importers have said, at
one hundred and forty five percent tariffs, I'm not shipping
out of China. I don't know if this could change
in two hours, two days, two weeks.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So let's hit the pause button.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
But the long shore and we've had a great fiscal
policy in place for a decade. We're going to keep investing.
We're going to get through this. Every four containers meet
a job at the port.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
What would you say to sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. When
you observe their press moments, their managed messaging.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're talking about the ground truth. Cargoes down, jobs are down.
And this is the dock workers, the truckers, warehouse folks,
but also the manufacturing people.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
This is Los Angeles County.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Almost four hundred thousand people go to work every day
in manufacturing jobs. It's just in Los Angeles, in LA County.
It is the biggest in the nation. Those are the
folks that we got to keep going too.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So tell us how a tariff works.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
When does it get assessed, How does it get assessed,
who pays it?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
How does that work. There's a start date that's announced.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
If your cargo is ingated to that port overseas after
the date of announcement, it's applied.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
The tariff has applied.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
It's assessed when it gets off the ship in Los
Angeles and assessed.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
By US Customs.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Who pays it.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
The importer of record and Walmart, big retailer, big manufacturer
bring it in parts.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
They pay for it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And what the CEOs and board members have been telling
me is they're going to pass it on to the
next in the supply chain. Consumers from the retail guys.
The parts are going straight to the factory.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We have somebody just emails in what's the COVID equivalent?
Is this like, Oh, I'm recalling March of twenty twenty.
Am I wrong? Call day?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
It was March and our business was cut in half
that month. We only did like four hundred and fifty
thousand containers, but it made a quick return as we
all started buying online and curbside pickup. I don't know
when the return date is going to be just yet.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So what are the Walmarts of the world telling you
in terms of kind of what they think they're going
how they're going to behave going forward?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Again, hit the pause button. I'm not hiring open positions
or shelved for the time being. Capital investments are on pause,
and I'm waiting and seeing guys like Walmart and others
of the large big box variety started bringing in inventory
back last summertime. Campaign trail folks were talking about different
trade policy, tariffs, etc. These guys saw through that a
(03:16):
little bit, knowing that this day would come. Where I'm
concerned right now, Paul, are the small to middle sized
importers that didn't have the ability to bring an inventory,
warehouse it, etc. Now they're faced with a dilemma of
do I buy at these super exorbitant prices, Can I
pass it on and still compete with the big guys,
or do I.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Just sit and wait. I've got to make payroll next
month with your.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Harborst and with the Queen Mary over on Long Beach.
You know the tourist thing. The fact is the stuff
comes off and they get to get on Highway seven,
ten or whatever. What happens on the interstate highways.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Given this crisis, you're going to see truckers who have
been hauling four and five containers up till now per
day move maybe two or three start next week. You
see less traffic on the roads. The warehouses with their
vacancy rate at six seven percent, that's probably going to
dip to Retailers have told me that they've got about
five to seven weeks left of normal inventory.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Then we'll start seeing spot shortages.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Give us an example of that.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
You may go to the store and you're looking for
that blue shirt Duke perfect Duke merchandise, right it.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Give us one of nice blue shirts, your size and
your style, with the right kind of collar. You may
see eleven purple ones on the shelf and one blue
one that just doesn't match your taste, and the price
for that blue one is likely up a lot more
than the others.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Our interview of the day here, we welcome all of
you accrastination, particularly early in the morning on the left coast.
Jeans Soroka with us here of the ports of Los Angeles,
Long Beach and the rest.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Paul, Hey, Geene.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
If again, we've got a president who's the situation is
very fluid in terms of his policy pronouncements. If we
were to have a president that's maybe dial back some
of the tariff situation, what's the time frame for your
whole process, your whole world to.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Start kicking in again. Yeh, Paul.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
If we reached a deal today as we're speaking with China,
whatever that deal may look like, a framework, et cetera,
it would take the shipping lines about two weeks to
reposition their vessels to the major ports Ching Dao, jamin Shanghai.
Then it takes another two weeks after they load up
to steam over to La So we've got a month
(05:26):
once we push the button to say hey, we're back
in business and that's why this inventory level at the
retail folks are telling me about we're starting to we're
starting to get a little tight here.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You're maybe that one person in America that can answer this.
With great respect for Ambassador Burns, Nicholas Burns, with his
public service to China here in the recent years, we
all understand there's going to be retail shortages here empty
the four hundred thousand manufacturing types in Los Angeles, those
Chinese names you pronounced correctly, that I Butcher. What's this
(05:58):
going to be like for the people in those Chinese
cities of manufacturing and export?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, tom As, you remember I worked in China for
about four and a half years. They still maintained very
close ties there to the business community. I'm on the
phone with guys and friends overnight every night, and basically
manufacturing has slowed to levels they have not seen before
since the COVID times. And if folks are out of work,
the government's going to help them out.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
They have a social safety net.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Yes, So what are you telling I guess your workers
at the port, I mean you've got I remember from
you were so kind to us during a pandemic. To
explain how this whole supply chain thing works. It's not
just the people unloading the cargo. It's the truckers, it's
the it just it's a warehouse, employees, it's.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Everybody, right right.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
It's one to nine jobs. In the five counties Southern
California area. A million people go to work every day
based on what we do at the ports of La
and Long Beach, and so what we're trying to do
is just keep morale up.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Again, Let's not blink here. We still get a lot
of work to do. The Loong shoreman as.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
An example, they can start doing preventative maintenance on the
machinery when volume dies down a little bit. The mechanics
can get out there in force and make sure that
all this equipment is ready. When that surge comes back,
we're going to be humming with the truckers. Let's move
around some domestic freight as well. So we're just trying
to keep the morale up, keep the people focused on
(07:21):
the job as best we can. But knowing that we've
got a preparation. We've got preparation here. Now when that
cargo picks up, we're going to see it forty days
before it actually arrives.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
On our shores. We're going to be ready.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Do you sleep on the Red Eye or do you
work in the Red Eye?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You know, I got a couple of winks, but you know,
I mean just getting here to Manhattan, seeing you guys,
the energy here and with all that's going on in
our industry, we're moving.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You're getting energy from This is.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
John.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I greatly appreciate it. I'm thrilled to have them with us,
the gentlemen of Los Angeles and all of this important discussion.
Jeens Sorocas, Chief Executive Officer Port of Los Angeles
Bloomberg, Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Jeans Soroca, where the Garcetti appointment in twenty fourteen has
the most important job in America right now.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Everyone on Global Wall Street.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Wants this view. We're honored off the Red Eye that
the gentlemen of Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports join
us this morning. Just thank you so much for joining
Bloomberg this morning. As simple as I can make it,
what is a single thing you would say today to
the long sharman of Long Beach in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
We're going to get through this, even though we're going
to be down by thirty five percent next week on
cargo volume coming into the port compared to last year
thirty five percent. Major retailers, big importers have said, at
one hundred and forty five percent tariffs, I'm not shipping
out of China. I don't know if this could change
in two hours, two days, two weeks.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So let's hit the pause button.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
But the long shore and we've had a great fiscal
policy in place for a decade. We're going to keep investing.
We're going to get through this. Every four containers meet
a job at the port.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
What would you say to sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. When
you observe their press moments, their managed messaging.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're talking about the ground truth. Cargoes down, jobs are down.
And this is the dock workers, the truckers, warehouse folks,
but also the manufacturing people.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
This is Los Angeles County.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Almost four hundred thousand people go to work every day
in manufacturing jobs. It's just in Los Angeles, in LA County.
It is the biggest in the nation. Those are the
folks that we got to keep going too.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So tell us how a tariff works.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
When does it get assessed, How does it get assessed,
who pays it?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
How does that work. There's a start date that's announced.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
If your cargo is ingated to that port overseas after
the date of announcement, it's applied.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
The tariff has applied.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
It's assessed when it gets off the ship in Los
Angeles and assessed.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
By US Customs.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Who pays it.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
The importer of record and Walmart, big retailer, big manufacturer
bring it in parts.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
They pay for it.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And what the CEOs and board members have been telling
me is they're going to pass it on to the
next in the supply chain. Consumers from the retail guys.
The parts are going straight to the factory.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We have somebody just emails in what's the COVID equivalent?
Is this like, Oh, I'm recalling March of twenty twenty.
Am I wrong? Call day?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
It was March and our business was cut in half
that month. We only did like four hundred and fifty
thousand containers, but it made a quick return as we
all started buying online and curbside pickup. I don't know
when the return date is going to be just yet.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
So what are the Walmarts of the world telling you
in terms of kind of what they think they're going
how they're going to behave going forward?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Again, hit the pause button. I'm not hiring open positions
or shelved for the time being. Capital investments are on pause,
and I'm waiting and seeing guys like Walmart and others
of the large big box variety started bringing in inventory
back last summertime. Campaign trail folks were talking about different
trade policy, tariffs, etc. These guys saw through that a
(03:16):
little bit, knowing that this day would come. Where I'm
concerned right now, Paul, are the small to middle sized
importers that didn't have the ability to bring an inventory,
warehouse it, etc. Now they're faced with a dilemma of
do I buy at these super exorbitant prices, Can I
pass it on and still compete with the big guys,
or do I.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Just sit and wait. I've got to make payroll next
month with your.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Harborst and with the Queen Mary over on Long Beach.
You know the tourist thing. The fact is the stuff
comes off and they get to get on Highway seven,
ten or whatever. What happens on the interstate highways.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Given this crisis, you're going to see truckers who have
been hauling four and five containers up till now per
day move maybe two or three start next week. You
see less traffic on the roads. The warehouses with their
vacancy rate at six seven percent, that's probably going to
dip to Retailers have told me that they've got about
five to seven weeks left of normal inventory.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Then we'll start seeing spot shortages.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Give us an example of that.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
You may go to the store and you're looking for
that blue shirt Duke perfect Duke merchandise, right it.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Give us one of nice blue shirts, your size and
your style, with the right kind of collar. You may
see eleven purple ones on the shelf and one blue
one that just doesn't match your taste, and the price
for that blue one is likely up a lot more
than the others.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Our interview of the day here, we welcome all of
you accrastination, particularly early in the morning on the left coast.
Jeans Soroka with us here of the ports of Los Angeles,
Long Beach and the rest.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Paul, Hey, Geene.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
If again, we've got a president who's the situation is
very fluid in terms of his policy pronouncements. If we
were to have a president that's maybe dial back some
of the tariff situation, what's the time frame for your
whole process, your whole world to.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Start kicking in again. Yeh, Paul.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
If we reached a deal today as we're speaking with China,
whatever that deal may look like, a framework, et cetera,
it would take the shipping lines about two weeks to
reposition their vessels to the major ports Ching Dao, jamin Shanghai.
Then it takes another two weeks after they load up
to steam over to La So we've got a month
(05:26):
once we push the button to say hey, we're back
in business and that's why this inventory level at the
retail folks are telling me about we're starting to we're
starting to get a little tight here.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You're maybe that one person in America that can answer this.
With great respect for Ambassador Burns, Nicholas Burns, with his
public service to China here in the recent years, we
all understand there's going to be retail shortages here empty
the four hundred thousand manufacturing types in Los Angeles, those
Chinese names you pronounced correctly, that I Butcher. What's this
(05:58):
going to be like for the people in those Chinese
cities of manufacturing and export?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, tom As, you remember I worked in China for
about four and a half years. They still maintained very
close ties there to the business community. I'm on the
phone with guys and friends overnight every night, and basically
manufacturing has slowed to levels they have not seen before
since the COVID times. And if folks are out of work,
the government's going to help them out.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
They have a social safety net.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Yes, So what are you telling I guess your workers
at the port, I mean you've got I remember from
you were so kind to us during a pandemic. To
explain how this whole supply chain thing works. It's not
just the people unloading the cargo. It's the truckers, it's
the it just it's a warehouse, employees, it's.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Everybody, right right.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
It's one to nine jobs. In the five counties Southern
California area. A million people go to work every day
based on what we do at the ports of La
and Long Beach, and so what we're trying to do
is just keep morale up.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Again, Let's not blink here. We still get a lot
of work to do. The Loong shoreman as.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
An example, they can start doing preventative maintenance on the
machinery when volume dies down a little bit. The mechanics
can get out there in force and make sure that
all this equipment is ready. When that surge comes back,
we're going to be humming with the truckers. Let's move
around some domestic freight as well. So we're just trying
to keep the morale up, keep the people focused on
(07:21):
the job as best we can. But knowing that we've
got a preparation. We've got preparation here. Now when that
cargo picks up, we're going to see it forty days
before it actually arrives.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
On our shores. We're going to be ready.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Do you sleep on the Red Eye or do you
work in the Red Eye?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You know, I got a couple of winks, but you know,
I mean just getting here to Manhattan, seeing you guys,
the energy here and with all that's going on in
our industry, we're moving.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You're getting energy from This is.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
John.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I greatly appreciate it. I'm thrilled to have them with us,
the gentlemen of Los Angeles and all of this important discussion.
Jeens Sorocas, Chief Executive Officer Port of Los Angeles
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