News
With most holiday merchandise safely in the country despite significant congestion impacting West Coast ports, import cargo volume at the U.S.'s major retail container ports is expected to continue to slow down this month, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Import volume at U.S. ports covered by the Global Port Tracker report is expected to total 1.37 million TEUs this month as the holiday shipping cycle winds down. Imports set an all-time record of 1.59 million TEUs in September as retailers rushed to bring merchandise into the country ahead of any disruption on the docks.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.56 million TEUs in October, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 2 percent from September but up 8.5 percent from October 2013 as the economy continued to grow. November was estimated at 1.41 million TEUs, up 4.8 percent from last year, and December is forecast at 1.37 million TEUs, up 3.8 percent.
Those numbers would bring 2014 to a total of 17.2 million TEUs, an increase of 6.2 percent over 2013's 16.2 million.
