News
Driven by increasing consumer demand and rising retail sales, imports at the U.S.'s major retail container ports are expected to set a new record this month even though new tariffs on goods from China just took effect, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.82 million TEUs in May, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 11.6 percent from April as the annual wave of summer merchandise began to arrive and up 4.3 percent year-over-year.
June was estimated at 1.83 million TEUs, up 6.8 percent year-over-year. July is forecast at 1.87 million TEUs, up 3.8 percent; August at 1.91 million TEUs, up 4.2 percent; September at 1.82 million TEUs, up 2.1 percent; and October at 1.89 million TEUs, up 5.3 percent.
The June number tied the record of 1.83 million TEUs imported during a single month set in August 2017, and the forecast for July would break that record while August should set yet another record.
While cargo numbers do not correlate directly with sales, the record imports mirror strong results seen by retailers this spring and expectations of continued growth through the remainder of the year. Retail sales as calculated by NRF - excluding automobiles, restaurants and gasoline stations - were up 5.6 percent year-over-year in May and up 4.6 percent on a three-month moving average. NRF is forecasting that total 2018 sales will be up between 3.8 percent and 4.4 percent over 2017.
The first half of 2018 is expected to total 10.3 million TEUs, an increase of 4.9 percent over the first half of 2017. The total for 2017 was 20.5 million TEUs, up 7.6 percent from 2016's previous record of 19.1 million TEUs.
