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The number of containerships headed for the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — a traffic jam that once symbolized American consumer vigor during the pandemic — declined to the lowest level since the bottleneck started to build two years ago.

Record-setting container volumes continued flowing through some of the nation’s major ports in July, while industry challenges compelled declines at other facilities.

Developers and port officials in Dallas County, Texas, are talking with leaders building the new Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District/Louisiana Gateway Project to expand the reach of the budding Gulf of Mexico facility.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said he sees no signs of a strike or a lockout looming in the contract negotiations between dockworkers and employers at some of the nation’s most important ports, even as talks continue without a contract.

The 22,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association jointly announced July 26 they have reached a tentative agreement on health care benefits.

The Port of Los Angeles reported its highest container volume ever for the month of June in its 115-year history.

The new federal port envoy said he is “very optimistic” about the progress being made to unkink the nation’s seaports and supply chain.

LOS ANGELES — A contract between shipping companies and 22,000 West Coast dockworkers expired over the weekend. But both sides continued to talk and said they want to avoid a strike that could savage an economy already stressed by soaring inflation and supply chain woes.

The strong pace of imported goods to the nation’s ports continued in May.

Negotiators with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association are discussing a plan to allow all West Coast marine terminals to open an hour earlier, at 6 a.m., under what’s called “a double flex.”