News
The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts that in 2024, retail sales will grow between 2.5% and 3.5% from 2023, according to the latest issue of Global Port Tracker released by the NRF and Hackett Associates. To address various logistics concerns, retailers are trying to have products on hand as soon as possible.
“Lulls between supply chain challenges seldom last long, and importers are currently looking at issues including high shipping rates, unresolved port labor negotiations and continuing capacity and congestion issues from the ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea,” NRF Vice-President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Despite all of that, we’re experiencing the strongest surge in volume we’ve seen in two years, and that’s a good sign for what retailers expect in sales.” “Consumers can rest assured that retailers will be well-stocked and ready to meet demand as we head into the back-to-school and holiday seasons,” he added.
Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said the latest numbers come as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea earlier this year have had an impact beyond earlier expectations because of a lack of sufficient capacity to make up for longer voyages to avoid the region. Political support for higher and broader tariffs on imported goods is expanding. And worries over a lack of a new contract with East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers is shifting some cargo to West Coast ports. All of those issues drive up prices for shipping and, in turn, consumers.
The U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.08 million TEUs of containers in May, up 3% from April and up 7.5% year over year, which was the highest number since 2.26 million TEUs in August 2022.
Global Port Tracker projects that volumes at the U.S. ports amounted to 2.1 million TEU, up 14.5% year over year. July is forecast at 2.21 million TEUs, up 15.5%; August at 2.22 million TEUs, up 13.5%; September at 2.1 million TEUs, up 3.5%; October at 2.05 million TEUs, down 0.5% and November at 1.96 million TEUs, up 3.5%.
