News
Imports at the U.S.'s major retail container ports are expected to grow a healthy 4.9 percent during the first half of 2018 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
The import projection comes a day after NRF forecast that 2018 retail sales will grow between 3.8 and 4.4 percent over 2017's $3.53 trillion. Cargo volume does not correlate directly with sales because only the number of containers is counted, not the value of the cargo inside, but nonetheless provides a barometer of retailers' expectations.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.72 million TEUs in December, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. With most holiday merchandise already in the country by then, the number was down 2.1 percent from November but up 8.4 percent year-over-year.
The total for 2017 was 20.5 million TEUs, topping 2016's record 19.1 million TEUs by 7.6 percent.
January was estimated at 1.77 million TEUs, up 4.1 percent year-over-year. February is forecast at 1.67 million TEUs, up 14.8 percent from last year; March at 1.54 million TEUs, down 1.1 percent; April at 1.71 million TEUs, up 4.8 percent; May at 1.8 million TEUs, up 2.8 percent, and June also at 1.8 million TEUs, up 4.9 percent. The February and March percentages are skewed because of changes in when Asian factories close for Lunar New Year each year.
Those numbers would bring the first half of 2018 to a total of 10.3 million TEUs, an increase of 4.9 percent over the first half of 2017.
