News
Import cargo volume at the U.S.'s major retail container ports is expected to be up 16 percent in September over the same month last year, but 2010 has already hit its peak and numbers will decline through the remainder of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
U.S. ports handled 1.38 million TEUs in July, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was up 5 percent from June and 25 percent from July 2009. It was the eighth month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines.
August was estimated at 1.35 million TEUs, a 17 percent increase over last year. September is forecast at 1.32 million TEUs, up 16 percent from last year; October at 1.3 million TEUs, up 9 percent; November at 1.2 million TEUs, up 11 percent; and December at 1.11 million TEUs, up 2 percent. January 2011 is forecast at 1.06 million TEUs, down 2 percent from January 2010.
The first half of 2010 was estimated at 6.9 million TEUs, up 17 percent from the same period last year. The full year is forecast at 14.5 million TEUs, which would be up 15 percent from the 12.7 million TEUs in 2009, which was the lowest since the 12.5 million TEUs reported in 2003. The 2010 number remains below the 15.2 million TEUs seen in 2008 and the peak of 16.5 million TEUs seen in 2007.
