News
Import cargo volume at the U.S.'s major retail container ports is expected to increase 8.3 percent in November over the same time last year as consumers begin their holiday shopping, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.62 million TEUs in September, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 3.5 percent from August but up 2.2 percent from a year ago.
October was estimated at 1.63 million TEUs, up 4.5 percent from 2014. November is forecast at 1.51 million TEUs, up 8.3 percent, and December at 1.44 million TEUs, up 0.4 percent.
Those numbers would bring 2015 to a total of 18.35 million TEUs, up 6.1 percent from last year. The first half of 2015 totaled 8.9 million TEUs, up 6.5 percent over the same period last year.
January 2016 is forecast at 1.46 million TEs, up 18.5 percent from weak numbers seen a year earlier just before West Coast dockworkers agreed in February 2015 on a new contract that ended a months-long labor dispute. February 2016 is forecast at 1.41 million TEUs, up 17.9 percent, also skewed by the labor dispute. March is forecast at 1.35 million TEUs, down 21.9 percent from a year ago because of large volumes seen after the contract agreement.
