22.09.12US Imports Down 0.4% in July

With inflation continuing and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) hoping to cool demand through higher interest rates, imports to U.S. major container ports are expected to fall below last year's levels for the remainder of 2022, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released last week by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“Consumers are still buying, but the cargo surge we saw during the past two years appears to be slowing down," NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold says. "Cargo volumes are solidly above pre-pandemic levels, but the rate of growth has slowed and even slid into negative numbers compared with unusually high volumes last year.”

U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.18 million TEUs of containers in July, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was down 3.1 percent from June and down 0.4 percent from July 2021 - only the third year-over-year decline in two years and the first since December 2021.

Ports have not yet reported August's numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.17 million TEUs, down 4.3%. September is forecast at 2.1 million TEUs, down 1.8%; October also at 2.1 million TEUs, down 4.8%; November at 2.04 million TEUs, down 3.3% and December at 2.01 million TEUs, down 4%.

The first half of the year totaled 13.5 million TEUs, a 5.5% increase. The forecast for the remainder of the year would bring the second half to 12.6 million TEUs, down 3.1%. For the full year, 2022 is expected to total 26.1 million TEUs, up 1.2 % from last year's annual record of 25.8 million TEUs.