(Bloomberg) -- The busiest container complex in the US surpassed a record set during the pandemic last quarter as businesses continue to bring goods in ahead of potential tariff increases and sought to avoid hurricane and labor disruptions at alternate ports.

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“The Port of Los Angeles recorded its best September ever, effectively handling 955,000 container units,” Executive Director Gene Seroka told reporters Friday. “Even more impressive, the third quarter marked our single highest quarterly performance in our 116 year history.”

The LA and Long Beach ports — which together account for roughly a third of all US container imports — each had their busiest ever peak season this year. Cargo volumes flowing into and out of Southern California beat the record set in the second quarter of 2021, when demand for consumer goods and supply chain snarls caused a massive backlog of ships offshore and a pileup of containers on the docks.

In contrast, the record number of ships that called at the San Pedro Bay were loaded and unloaded without delays in July, August, and September as cargo handlers processed more than 2.8 million boxes, Seroka said.

Imports at the LA port last month landed at 497,803 20-foot container equivalent units, or TEUs. The port also handled 114,702 export containers and 342,201 empty containers in September.

The Port of Long Beach next door also had its busiest quarter overall, moving 2.6 million twenty-foot container equivalent units. In September, imports came in at 416,999 TEUs, exports were 88,289 TEUs and the port handled 324,211 empties.

“We have plenty of room across our terminals as the peak shipping season drives a record amount of cargo through this critical gateway for trans-Pacific trade,” Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero said in a statement.

Seroka said he expects volumes to taper off a bit through the end of the year, while remaining higher than the typical post-peak period, as importers bring in goods ahead a relatively early Lunar New Year in 2025. The increase is also due to retailers’ worries about new tariffs ahead of next month’s presidential election, he said.

“This is traditionally slack season, yet I see no evidence of a precipitous drop in cargo volume,” Seroka said. “If some importers anticipate new tariffs, as they did in 2019 we may see an uptick in cargo brought in early to avoid those extra costs.”