News
Amid impacts from tariffs and ongoing trade policy uncertainty, year-over-year declines in import cargo volume seen at U.S. major container ports in recent months are expected to continue in 2026, according to a recent Global Port Tracker (GPT) report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates (HA).
The U.S. ports covered by GPT handled 2.07 million TEUs of containers in October, although Charleston has not yet reported its data, down 1.8% from September and down 7.9% year over year.
Ports have not yet reported numbers for November, but GPT projects the month at 1.91 million TEUs, down 11.6% year over year. December is forecast at 1.86 million TEUs, down 12.7%. November and December are traditionally slow, but the large year-over-year declines are partly because imports in late 2024 were elevated by concerns over port strikes. In addition, many retailers imported cargo earlier than usual this year to avoid tariffs.
Cargo is expected to see its first month-over-month increase in six months in January, which is forecast at 2 million TEUs but would still be down 10.3% year over year. February is forecast at 1.86 million TEUs, down 8.5% year over year; March at 1.79 million TEUs, down 16.8%, and April at 1.97 million TEUs, down 10.9%.
The first half of 2025 totaled 12.53 million TEUs, up 3.7% year over year. The full year is forecast at 25.2 million TEUs, down 1.4% from 25.5 million TEUs in 2024.
