Retail container traffic hits summer doldrums

Retail container traffic hits summer doldrums    Import cargo volume at 10 U.S. container ports handling most of the nation’s retail goods have wilted this summer, but are expected to revive in the fall.
   Container volume in the first half of the year was 7.2 million TEUs, up 5 percent from the first half of 2010, said the monthly Global Port Tracker report, released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
   But imports have hit a slow stretch this summer.
   “The low level of inventories-to-sales ratios suggest that import container flows will continue at their suppressed levels for the summer,” Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said. “On the bright side, there will be no imminent boom or bust in volumes as we experienced in 2007 and 2010.”

Hackett

   “With the economy facing continuing challenges, retailers are managing their inventory levels carefully,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy. “But the increases in import volume expected this fall are a clear sign that retailers are confident consumer demand will be there in the fourth quarter.”

Gold

   U.S. ports followed by Global Port Tracker handled 1.28 million TEUs in May, the latest month for which numbers are available. That was up 1 percent from May 2010. It was the 18th month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December 2009 broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines.
   The report gives the following estimates, compared to year-earlier totals:
   ' June, 1.31 million TEU, down 0.8 percent.
   ' July, 1.36 million TEU, down 1.3 percent.
   ' August, 1.43 million TEU, up 0.6 percent.
   ' September, 1.47 million TEU, up 10 percent.
   ' October, 1.53 million TEU, up 18 percent.
   ' November, 1.41 million TEU, up 19 percent.
   ' For all of 2011, 15.7 million, up 6.2 percent over 2010.
   Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the U.S. ports of Long 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.