Forecast: Retail container volumes to remain weak

Forecast: Retail container volumes to remain weak    Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports improved in March over February's seven-year low, but was still at its lowest level in five years and remained below the 1 million mark, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released Thursday by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight.
   U.S. ports surveyed handled 984,633 TEUs in March, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. That was up 16.8 percent from February's 842,882 TEUs, which was the lowest level since March
2002, but still down 15 percent from March 2008.
   'The monthly numbers are on their way back up but that's really just the shipping cycle we see every year whether we're in a recession or not,' IHS Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said. 'The real rebound is still in the future. Import container traffic is projected to continue to be weak for the next several months due to the underlying reduction in demand for goods.'
   The Port Tracker report forecasts through September are as follows:
   ' April, 1.04 million TEUs, down 18 percent from the same 2008 period.
   ' May, 1.06 million TEUs, down 19 percent.
   ' June, 1.09 million TEUs, down 16 percent.
   ' July, 1.12 million TEUs, down 15 percent.
   ' August 1.15 million TEUs, down 15.8 percent.
   ' September 1.13 million TEUs, down 17 percent.