October U.S. imports down 2.7% from September

October U.S. imports down 2.7% from September    U.S. containerized import volume rose 10.2 percent over last October but fell 2.7 percent from September to October, trade intelligence company Zepol Corp. said Wednesday.
   Year to date, total import shipments are up 14.2 percent over 2009 and down 2.4 percent from 2008. Year-to-date TEUs show similar numbers, up 16.2 percent over 2009 and down 0.2 percent from 2008.
   'These numbers indicate that individual shipments are larger compared to previous years,' Minneapolis-based Zepol said in a statement. 'Total shipments from Asia are down 4.5 percent from September and this is reflected in the statistics for U.S. port regions. Pacific ports were down 6.6 percent, while East Coast ports are up 3.3 percent and Gulf ports are up 0.7 percent in terms of total TEUs.'
   Zepol said of the top 10 individual carriers, Maersk Line and CMA CGM saw their October U.S. inbound volumes increase over September, while the other eight lines saw decreases from September.
   For further information about U.S. import volumes, look for the upcoming December American Shipper, which uses Zepol data to examine how the peak month for U.S. imports has changed over the past eight years.