Shipping volumes surged 18 percent in July at Port of Long Beach, making the month the busiest in the port’s history.

More than 690,000 standard container units moved in and out of Long Beach shipping terminals last month, the port reported Thursday. That’s the most since August 2006, when the port recorded cargo volumes in excess of 675,000 container units.

“It’s been actually a good year, once we recovered from the January, February backlog,” port Chief Executive Jon Slangerup said in an interview.

“Year to date, we’re well ahead of last year.”

Through July, total shipping volumes at Port of Long Beach are up 2 percent compared to 2014 levels. Shipping activities were curtailed during the first two months of this year because of a labor dispute between dockworkers and their employers.

Labor and management reached an agreement in late February, and a new contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies doing business on the West Coast, was ratified in May.

Slangerup said July’s cargo statistics are a sign of strength in the national economy, as well as evidence that fears of shippers sending cargo to more distant ports in the aftermath of this winter’s labor troubles are not being realized.

“They just wanted to be assured that we had our act together,” he said.

In terms of the broader economy, the National Retail Federation reported earlier this month that imports to major U.S. ports rose 6.5 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2015.

There is also evidence that Americans are buying more stuff this year than during 2015. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that retail and food purchases, including motor vehicles, are estimated to have increased 2.2 percent above last year’s level to more than $3 trillion worth of goods from January through July.

At Port of Long Beach, July’s imports rose 16 percent year-over-year to nearly 346,000 container units. Exports also increased 16 percent to nearly 144,000 container units.

The number of empty containers being shipped through port facilities increased 24 percent to more than 200,000 container units.