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The U.S. imported 2.1 million TEUs of containers in November, which decreased 8.8% from October but increased 8% from November 2022, according to Descartes Datamyne, which refers to Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and bill-of-lading (B/L) data provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Imports from 10 major countries and regions in Asia accounted for 1.49 million TEUs, which went gown 9.5% from the previous month but surged 13.2% from the same month of the previous year.
U.S. imports increased from almost all countries and regions of origin last month. Those from China soared 13.1% year on year to 851,127 TEUs, holding the largest share of the pie. They were followed by containers from South Korea, which swelled 10.2% to 175,614 TEUs. Ranked third were those from Vietnam, which jumped 32.1% to 148,175 TEUs. Finishing in fourth place, imports from Singapore ballooned 18.8% to 71,813 TEUs. At the bottom of the top five were those from Taiwan, which plunged 10.5% to 64,656 TEUs. Containers from Japan grew 17.8% to 34,879 TEUs, coming in eighth place.
In January-November, container imports to the U.S. incurred a double-digit contraction of 12.7% from a year earlier at 16 million TEUs, which were, however, 6% more than the corresponding 11 months of the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Container imports from the U.S. to the 10 leading Asian economies amounted to 468,878 TEUs in October, which improved 5.9% from September and 3.7% from October 2022.
By destination, those to China picked up 2.2% to 135,969 TEUs, enjoying the leading share of the total. Imports to Japan, in contrast, plunged 12% to 48,474 TEUs but managed to hit number two spot. Coming in third, those to South Korea plummeted 10.6% to 48,147 TEUs. Imports to Malaysia surged 20.9% to 45,066 TEUs and to Taiwan, 39.7% to 44,604 TEUs.
In January-October, ex-U.S. Asia-bound containers totaled 4.51 million TEUs, which shrank 0.3% year on year.
