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Imports at the U.S.'s largest retail container ports should remain at near-record levels this month but could see a slight dip from last year's unusually high numbers as congestion slows the movement of backed-up cargo, 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 2.27 TEUs in August, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was up 3.5 percent from July and up 7.8 percent from a year earlier and tied March as the second-busiest month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. May remains the busiest month on record at 2.33 million TEUs.

Ports have not reported September numbers yet, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.25 million TEUs, which would be up 6.7 percent year-over-year.

October is forecast at 2.21 million TEUs. That would be down 0.3 percent from the same time last year, when imports surged dramatically as the economy reopened after the first wave of COVID-19 and retailers rushed to meet pent-up consumer demand, but still the sixth-busiest month on record as imports remain high.

November is forecast at 2.16 million TEU, which would be up 2.9 percent year-over-year, and December is forecast at 2.1 million TEU, down 0.2 percent. January 2022 is forecast at 2.17 million TEU, up 5.7 percent from January 2021, and February 2022 is forecast at 1.9 million TEU, up 1.4 percent year-over-year.

The first half of 2021 totaled 12.8 million TEUs, up 35.6 percent from the same period last year. For the full year, 2021 is on track to total 26 million TEUs, up 18.1 percent over 2020 and a new annual record topping last year's 22 million TEUs. Cargo imports during 2020 were up 1.9 percent over 2019 despite the pandemic.


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