Retailers: Import container volumes remain low

Retailers: Import container volumes remain low

Gold

   Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports in April were up 2 percent over March, but down 22 percent from the same period the prior year, according to the monthly Port Tracker report of the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight.
   'Retailers are still being cautious with their inventory levels in anticipation of slow sales this summer and into the fall,' said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy. 'The big question is what will happen during the fourth quarter.”
   The group is forecasting volumes of imported retail goods will grow in the fall, but remain below 2008 levels.
   The group said at the U.S. ports it surveys on a monthly basis, import volumes were 990,632 TEUs in April, the third-lowest number since February 2004, after February and March of this year.

Bingham

   The group forecasts import volumes in the first half of this year will be 5.9 million TEUs, down 21 percent from the 7.5 million TEUs seen in the first half of 2008.
   'Monthly cargo volumes are starting to creep up but the magnitude of the recessionary decline is clear when you compare this year's numbers with last year's,' said Paul Bingham, IHS Global Insight economist. 'Import container traffic is projected to continue to be weak because of the underlying reduction in demand for goods during the recession.'
   All U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker — Los Angeles-Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York-New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast; and Houston on the Gulf Coast — are rated 'low' for congestion, the same as last month.