News
Retail imports at the U.S.'s major container ports are expected to end 2021 with both the largest volume and fastest growth on record despite supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Imports for 2021 are expected to total 26 million TEUs, an increase of 18.3 percent over 2020 and the highest number since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. The projected total would top last year's previous record of 22 million TEUs, which was up 1.9 percent despite the pandemic. The growth rate would also be the highest on record, topping 16.7 percent in 2010 as the economy recovered from the Great Recession.
While imports do not correlate directly with sales, the record comes as NRF expects holiday sales during November and December to grow 11.5 percent over last year.
Despite the double-digit import growth for the year, monthly totals have settled to single-digit year-over-year growth, a pattern expected to continue at least through the first quarter of 2022.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.21 million TEUs in October, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was up 3.5 percent from September but down 0.2 percent from October 2020, marking the first year-over-year decline since July 2020. The decline ended a 14-month streak of year-over-year growth that began in August 2020 after stores initially closed by the pandemic reopened and retailers worked to meet demand. Even with the decline, October was still among the five busiest months on record.
Port have not reported November numbers yet, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.21 million TEUs, up 5.1 percent year-over-year. December is forecast at 2.2 million TEUs, up 4.6 percent.
