News
Imports at the U.S.'s major retail container ports have slowed down from their pre-holiday peak but remain at unusually high levels as retailers continue bringing in merchandise before tariffs increase in January, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.87 million TEUs in September, down 1.3 percent from August but up 4.6 percent year-over-year.
October was estimated at 1.89 million TEUs, up 5.5 percent year-over-year. November is forecast at 1.81 million TEUs, up 2.8 percent, and December at 1.79 million TEUs, up 3.8 percent. January 2019 is forecast at 1.81 million TEUs, up 2.8 percent over January 2018; February at 1.7 million TEUs, up 0.4 percent year-over-year, and March at 1.59 million TEUs, up 3.3 percent.
Imports set a monthly record of 1.9 million TEU in July ahead of 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion in goods from China that took effect in September and are scheduled to rise to 25 percent in January. While not overall records, October, November and December’s numbers are each the highest on record for those months. Before this year, the highest monthly number on record was 1.83 million TEU set in August 2017.
The first half of 2018 totaled 10.3 million TEU, an increase of 5.1 percent over the first half of 2017. The total for 2018 is expected to reach 21.4 million TEU, an increase of 4.4 percent over last year's record 20.5 million TEU.
