News
This year’s peak shipping season is coming to an end, with import volumes at U.S. major container ports expected to remain high in August before starting to decline for the remainder of the year, according to a Global Port Tracker (GPT) report released last week by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates (HA).
The U.S. ports covered by GPT handled 2.23 million TEUs of containers in June, up 13.2% from a year earlier, when imports were down sharply because of last year’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. In the first half, they processed 12.7 million TEUs, up 1.1%.
GPT projects that volumes in July were 2.21 million TEU, down 7.6%. August is forecast at 2.22 million TEUs, down 4.2%; September at 2.16 million TEUs, up 2.8%; October at 2.13 million TEUs, up 2.7% s; and November at 2.03 million TEUs, up 0.3%. In December, volumes should pick up slightly to 2.06 million TEU, up 2.5%.
On a full-year scale, volumes are expected to total 25.5 million TEUs, up 0.1%.
