News
July and August should be two of the busiest months ever seen for imports at the U.S.'s major retail container ports, possibly setting a new record as merchants enter the back-to-school season and begin to stock up for the holiday season that will follow, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.72 million TEUs in May, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 7.3 percent from April and up 6.2 percent from May 2016.
June was estimated at 1.66 million TEUs, up 5.3 percent from the same time last year. July is forecast at 1.71 million TEUs, up 5.1 percent from last year; August at 1.75 million TEUs, up 2.2 percent; September at 1.66 million TEUs, up 4.3 percent; October at 1.71 million TEUs, up 2.2 percent, and November at 1.6 million TEUs, down 2.7 percent from last year.
The August figure would be the highest monthly volume recorded since NRF began tracking imports in 2000, topping the 1.73 million TEUs seen in March 2015. The 1.7 million-plus numbers seen in May, July, August and October represent four of the six busiest months in the report's history.
The first half of 2017 is expected to total 9.63 million TEUs, up 7.1 percent from the first half of 2016. Cargo volume for 2016 totaled 18.8 million TEUs, up 3.1 percent from 2015, which had grown 5.4 percent from 2014
