News
U.S. retail imports reached an all-time high this summer as retail sales bounced back from the pandemic and merchants replenished inventories and stocked up early for the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.1 million TEUs in August, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 9.7 percent from July and up 8 percent year-over-year. It was the highest number of containers imported in a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002, beating 2.04 million TEUs seen in October 2018 ahead of a scheduled tariff increase.
September was estimated at 2.08 million TEUs, a 10.9 percent year-over-year increase. September's actual total will not be known until next month but could become the second-highest month on record. October is forecast at 1.86 million TEUs, down 1.1 percent year over year.
Those numbers would amount to a record 7.96 million TEUs during the July-October ''peak season'' when retailers rush to bring in merchandise for the winter holidays, topping 7.7 million TEUs in 2018. Three-quarters of peak season imports - an estimated 6.1 million TEUs - have already arrived, preparing retailers for the early shopping.
November is forecast at 1.61 million TEUs, down 5.1 percent year-over-year, and December at 1.53 million TEUs, down 11.2 percent. That would bring 2020 to 20.5 million TEUs, a drop of 4.9 percent from last year to tie 2017 for the lowest annual total in three years. The first half of 2020 totaled 9.5 million TEUs, down 10.1 percent from last year.
