News
Imports at the U.S.'s major retail container ports are expected to remain at near-record levels in October despite a new round of tariffs that took effect in September, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.89 million TEUs in August, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 0.6 percent from July but up 3.4 percent year-over-year.
September was estimated at 1.84 million TEUs, up 2.7 percent year-over-year. October is forecast at 1.87 million TEUs, up 4.3 percent; November at 1.8 million TEUs, up 2.3 percent, and December at 1.79 million TEUs, up 4 percent. January 2019 is forecast at 1.77 million TEUs, up 0.7 percent over January 2018, and February is forecast at 1.63 million TEUs, down 3.5 percent year-over-year.
Until this year, the record for the number of containers imported during a single month was 1.83 million TEUs, set in August 2017. But that record was broken this June, when 1.85 million TEUs were imported, and again in July, with 1.9 million TEUs. October will be the fifth month in a row to top last year's peak.
The first half of 2018 totaled 10.3 million TEUs, an increase of 5.1 percent over the first half of 2017. The total for 2018 is expected to reach 21.4 million TEUs, an increase of 4.4 percent over last year's record 20.5 million TEUs.
