It’s always a bit dangerous to generalize from one data point, even if if it is a big data point, like Long Beach, one of America’s most active commercial ports. Nevertheless, the New York Times uses it to present a vivid image of the economic, and in particular, trade slowdown.
One focus is how imported cars are being warehoused there, indicating that even more competitive automakers have more pain to come. I dimly recall that when Daimler bought Chrysler (admittedly billed as a merger of equals that turned out otherwise) one of the reasons Chrysler decided to give up its independence was that the auto industry, globally, had production capacity vastly in excess of any reasonable demand scenario. And as has been visible for quite some time in the US, automakers have responded by using cheap financing as a means to get consumers to turn their cars in much faster than they ever did historically (when I was a kid, you bought a car and expected to keep it for, say, 6-10 years, depending on how heavily you drove it).
From the New York Times:
Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property….
While shipments for some items have slowed, the cars have kept coming in at their regular pace partly because the auto factories can take months to adjust to changes in demand.
And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot…
But the inventory glut in Long Beach is not limited to imported cars. There has also been a sharp drop in demand for the port’s single largest export: recycled cardboard and paper products.
This material typically goes to China, where it is used to make boxes for new electronics and other products that are sent back to the United States.
Yves here. I recall one analyst who used sales of corrugated cardboard as a early indicator of changes in economic activity and claimed it was very reliable. Back to the Times:
Roughly 20 percent of the nation’s container imports last year came through Long Beach, putting it close behind the largest container port, Los Angeles. This year, shipping volume at Long Beach is down 10 percent from 2007, and nearly all major ports around the country have seen similar declines. Veteran port workers say the slowdown since mid-October is like nothing they have ever seen. And it is having a cascading impact on other businesses and workers….While shipments for some items have slowed, the cars have kept coming in at their regular pace partly because the auto factories can take months to adjust to changes in demand.
Simpson 
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I’m in the market for a new car. I’ve got cash in hand, or I’d be happy to consider dealer financing. But I know that I’m in the position of power here, and I know what I’m waiting for.
When the automakers start offering fully loaded top-level trim models for 40% or more below invoice (not MSRP, invoice), then I will be motivated to go talk to them. Until then I can just sit here counting my money and waiting.