News
U.S. imports surged to unexpected high levels this summer and may have hit a new record as the U.S. economy continues to reopen and retailers stock up for the holiday season, 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 1.92 million TEUs in July, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 2.3 percent year-over-year but up 19.3 percent from June and significantly higher than the 1.76 million TEUs forecast a month ago.
August is estimated at 2.06 million TEUs, a 6 percent year-over-year increase. Actual August numbers will not be known until next month, but that would be an all-time high, beating the previous record of 2.04 million TEUs set in October 2018.
September is forecast at 1.89 million TEUs, up 1.1 percent year over year; October at 1.71 million TEUs, down 9.2 percent; November at 1.58 million TEUs, down 6.8 percent, and December at 1.53 million TEUs, down 11 percent.
Those numbers would bring 2020 to a total of 20.1 million TEUs, a drop of 6.7 percent from last year, still the lowest annual total since 19.1 million TEUs in 2016. The first half of 2020 totaled 9.5 million TEUs, down 10.6 percent from last year.
The forecast numbers call for 7.58 million TEUs during the July-October peak season when retailers rush to bring in merchandise for the winter holidays, making 2020 the third-busiest peak season on record following 7.7 million TEUs in 2018 and 7.66 million TEUs last year.
January 2021 is forecast at 1.6 million TEUs, down 12 percent from January 2020.
