News
With a strike possible again next month at East Coast and Gulf Coast container ports and President-elect Donald Trump planning to increase tariffs, U.S. major container ports are expected to see a continued surge in imports through next spring, according to the Global Port Tracker (GPT) report released recently by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
“Either a strike or new tariffs would be a blow to the economy and retailers are doing what they can to avoid the impact of either for as long as they can,” NRF Vice-President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “We hope that both can be avoided, but bringing in cargo early is a prudent step to mitigate the impact on our industry, consumers and the nation’s economy.
The U.S. ports covered by GPT handled 2.25 million TEUs of containers in October, although the Port of Miami has yet to report final data, down 1.2% from September but up 9.3% from October 2023.
Ports have not yet reported November numbers, but GPT projected the month at 2.17 million TEUs, up 14.4% year over year. December is forecast at 2.14 million TEUs, up 14.3%. That would bring 2024 to 25.6 million TEUs, up 14.8% from 2023. Before the October strike and November’s elections, November had been forecast at 1.91 million TEUs and December at 1.88 million TEUs, while the total for 2024 was forecast at 24.9 million TEUs.
January 2025 is forecast at 2.2 million TEUs, up 12%; February at 1.87 million TEUs, down 4.1% because of fluctuations in the timing of Lunar New Year shutdowns at Asian factories; March at 2.17 million TEUs, up 12.7%, and April at 2.15 million TEUs, up 6.6%.
