News
Import cargo volume at U.S. major container ports is climbing back from a nearly three-year low in February but is expected to remain well below last year’s levels heading into this fall, according to the Global Port Tracker report released recently by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.62 million TEUs of containers in March, up 5% from February but down 30.6% year over year. Ports have not yet reported April numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 1.73 million TEUs, down 23.4% year over year. May is forecast at 1.83 million TEUs, down 23.5% from last year’s 2.4 million TEU, the all-time record for the number of containers imported during a single month. June is forecast at 1.9 million TEUs, down 15.9%; July at 2.01 million TEUs, down 7.9%; August at 2.04 million TEUs, down 9.9%, and September at 1.96 million TEUs, down 3.4%. The large year-over-year declines are skewed by unusually high volumes last year.
The first half of 2023, previously forecast at 10.8 million TEUs, is now forecast at 10.4 million TEUs, down 22.8% from the first half of 2022. Global Port Tracker has not yet forecast the full year, but the third quarter is expected to total 6 million TEUs, down 7.2% from the same time of last year, and the first nine months of the year would total 16.5 million TEUs, down 17.8% year over year. Imports for all of 2022 totaled 25.5 million TEUs, down 1.2% from the annual record of 25.8 million TEU set in 2021.
