News
A potential strike at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports has been avoided with the announcement of a tentative labor agreement, but the nation’s major container ports have already seen a surge in imports that is expected to continue because of potential increases in tariffs, according to the Global Port Tracker (GPT) report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
The U.S. ports covered by GPT handled 2.17 million TEUs of containers in November, although the ports of New York and New Jersey have yet to report final data. It was down 3.2% from October but up 14.7% year over year.
Ports have not yet reported December’s numbers, but GPT has projected the month at 2.24 million TEUs, up 19.2% year over year. That would bring 2024 to 25.6 million TEUs, up 15.2% from 2023. Before the October port contract extension and the 2024 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 is forecast at 2.16 million TEUs, up 10% year over year; February at 1.87 million TEUs, down 4.5% because of Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in China; March at 2.13 million TEUs, up 10.6%; April at 2.18 million TEUs, up 8%, and May at 2.2 million TEUs, up 5.9%.
