The Port of Los Angeles is on track to process more than 10 million container units this year and is expecting a record-breaking December.

The port in San Pedro handled more than 880,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in November, up 16% from the same period last year, Executive Director Gene Seroka said. This year, the port has moved more than 9.3 million TEUs.

“We’re tracking 19% ahead of 2023 and 7% above that all important five year average,” Seroka said at a media briefing this week. “That puts us well on pace to exceed 10 million TEUs for only the second time in our 117-year history.”

The port processed more than 10.6 million container units in 2021, but that number fell to about 9.9 million in 2022 and 8.6 million in 2023. If December numbers meet expectations, the port could move more than 10.2 million units in 2024.

“All indications suggest that we’re heading into our best December on record,” Seroka said. “Traditionally it’s a softer month for volume, but this December we’ll likely surpass 900,000 TEUs.”

The Port of Los Angeles has been one of the busiest and highest ranked ports in the country for more than two decades, but recent geopolitical forces have brought even more activity to the West Coast.

“A few issues have led to increased cargo movement through Los Angeles,” Seroka said, including “the unresolved labor contract negotiations on the East and Gulf coasts, as well as frontloading of cargo as a hedge against potential tariffs.”

Thousands of dockworkers from Maine to Texas launched a strike in October over wages and the use of automation, shutting down seaports along the East Coast and disrupting normal trade. The union representing the dockworkers suspended the strike three days later but is prepared to resume striking Jan. 15 when its contract expires. The strike did not affect workers on the West Coast who are represented by a different union.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have seen increased activity as shipments are diverted away from the East Coast amid the unresolved labor negotiations. The Port of Los Angeles spent months preparing for the possibility of a dockworkers strike on the East Coast, Seroka told The Times in October.

The recent election has also had an effect on trade volume in Los Angeles as the country braces for potential heavy tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has proposed tariffs on trade with Mexico, Canada and China, the United States’ top three trading partners.

Fearing the effect of these tariffs on trade, many merchants are sending large shipments before they take effect, Seroka said.

In November, the Port of Los Angeles processed 458,165 loaded imports, 124,117 loaded exports and 302,033 empty containers.

A long-planned $1.4-billion real estate development at the foot of the newly famous Sixth Street Viaduct in downtown Los Angeles is closer to getting underway after receiving approval from the city Planning Commission.

The four-building mega development known as 670 Mesquit will have apartments, offices, a hotel, a charter elementary school, shops and restaurants if the City Council signs off on the plans to replace a cold storage facility on the west side of the Los Angeles River with the mixed-use complex designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels Group.

Developer Vella Group is prepared to start work in about a year and a half and plans to complete the project by 2031, land use consultant Michael LoGrande said.

LoGrande represents Vella Group and the Gallo family, the longtime owner of the Rancho Cold Storage facility on Mesquit Street that will make way for the new development that will rise as high as 34 stories.

Plans call for 894 apartments, of which 144 will be offered at below-market rates for low-income households — a scale that would make it one of the largest residential projects to be built downtown.

The boutique hotel will have 271 rooms and should garner a four-star rating, LoGrande said.

“We’re looking to attract people from the Convention Center” who want to stay in a neighborhood that feels different from the buzzy blocks around the sports and entertainment district, LoGrande said. He added that the project aims to offer “something that’s a little more cultured with more options and vibrant pedestrian activity, which you can find in the Arts District.”

The development will be funded by United Kingdom investment firm London & Regional Properties, LoGrande said.

Earlier plans for 670 Mesquit called for a larger portion of office space for rent, but with demand for offices dipping as more people work remotely, the office component was reduced to 676,000 square feet — still a substantial amount of new space.

A rendering of the $1.4-billion mixed-use project 670 Mesquit in Los Angeles’ Arts District, which would include housing, offices, a hotel, shops and restaurants

(Bjarke Ingels Group)

“This was really an office-forward project to begin with,” LoGrande said. “We made some pretty significant design changes due to the shifting market post-COVID and increased the residential units pretty dramatically by adding 475 more homes.”

Architect Bjarke Ingels has helped design corporate campuses for Google in London and Silicon Valley, among several other high-profile projects.

“Our project draws inspiration from the scale, materials, and details of the warehouses and factories in the Arts District, aiming to preserve and integrate their architectural character,” Bjarke Ingels said in a statement about 670 Mesquit. “By blending modern amenities with timeless materials and proportions, we honor the artistic identity that defines the district.”

The design also calls for a broad deck extending over an active rail yard below that divides the Rancho property from the Los Angeles River. And there is to be a landscaped public space maintained and programmed by the owners with such events as farmers markets, movie nights and yoga classes.

The deck, rooftops and ground level public spaces will be landscaped by Studio-MLA, which is led by architect Mia Lehrer. Her other projects include the Hollywood Park racetrack redevelopment and SoFi Stadium, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and the Taylor Yard G2 Park on the Los Angeles River.

A revolution is underway in California’s insurance market that could provide relief to homeowners in high-fire-risk neighborhoods who have found it difficult to find insurers to cover their homes, typically a household’s most valuable asset.

Under new rules, state insurers for the first time will be allowed to use so-called catastrophe models to help determine the cost of home insurance. The models, developed by firms such as Verisk Analytics and Moody’s, are complex computer programs that aim to better determine the risk a structure faces from wildfires amid a changing climate. Here are five things to know about the models:

How do these models work?

The programs, first developed in the 1980s because of hurricane losses and increasingly applied to wildfires, typically run thousands of possible scenarios that enable insurers to determine their potential financial exposure in a disaster. The models are proprietary but take into account many factors, including meteorological conditions, an area’s topography, the amount of brush and other nearby fuel, and a community’s building density.

When setting individual home premiums, California is requiring insurers to consider a building owner’s fire mitigation efforts, such as installing a Class A fire-rated roof, closing eaves or doing brush removal.

Will the models increase the availability of insurance?

The regulations are intended to sharply increase the availability of insurance in areas that have high fire risk as defined by Department of Insurance maps released this year, which are expected to be updated soon. Homeowners in those areas have been flocking to the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, which sells bare-bones policies. Southern California neighborhoods in those maps include ZIP Codes in Malibu, Beverly Hills and other communities in mountainous areas.

In exchange, large insurers are supposed to write policies in those neighborhoods equivalent to 85% of their statewide market share, meaning an insurer with a 10% statewide share should cover 8.5% of homes. However, critics such as Consumer Watchdog in Los Angeles say that those regulations have loopholes and that insurers have leeway to not meet that benchmark.

How will the new regulations affect my property insurance rates?

That’s a matter of debate. Catastrophe models are not specifically intended to lower rates, but insurers and the insurance department maintain that catastrophe models, by allowing insurers to more accurately calculate their risk, should allow for more gradual rate increases over time rather than requests for large one-time rate hikes, such as the 30% increase sought by State Farm in the summer.

Consumer Watchdog, however, says the models will lead to sharp rate hikes because the regulations allow insurers to keep essential details about the models under wraps despite a public review process established by the insurance department. The department disagrees and is supporting the establishment of a “public” model being developed by Cal Poly Humboldt and others that could be used in the future as a benchmark to evaluate the private models.

Will the new regulations affect me if I live in a city and not a wildfire zone?

Yes, sort of. Insurers in the state already include the risk of wildfire in their premiums, but it is based on historical claims data. Homes in neighborhoods that don’t face such a risk already pay lower rates, and that is not expected to change under the new rules. However, even homeowners in low-risk urban areas are facing rate hikes, and the department is hoping that the regulation, along with other regulatory changes — such as allowing insurers to include the cost of reinsurance in their premiums — will draw more insurers back into the market. Reinsurance is acquired by insurers from other insurers to help protect them from catastrophic losses.

When can I start seeing some relief?

The insurance department will start accepting applications from modeling companies Jan. 2 and expects that, after the public review process is completed, some could be approved in the first quarter. Insurers could then file for new rates based on those models. Those rate filings also must undergo a review that the department said could be completed for some as early as next summer, with more in 2026.