TEU volumes reach still higher, says NRF

TEU volumes reach still higher, says NRF Traffic at the nation’s major retail container ports has already topped the highest level hit during 2005 and will set additional new records before the 2006 peak shipping season is over, according to the September Port Tracker report released Monday by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.
   The system is handling volumes levels never been seen before, thanks mainly to continued growth in the demand for Asian imports, Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said in a statement.
   Despite the growth in volume, the outlook is for continued acceptable performance over the next six months, Bingham, something he confirmed in an interview with American Shipper in late August.
   All ports covered by Port Tracker — Los Angeles-Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma and Seattle on the West Coast; and New York-New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast — are rated “low” for congestion, the same as in August.
   Nationwide, the ports surveyed handled 1.38 million TEUS in July, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. The figure was up 1.7 percent from June and 7.1 percent from July 2005.
   July’s number topped 2005’s year-long peak of 1.37 million TEUs set last October, and numbers well above the 2005 peak are expected to be hit through the remainder of the season. August is forecast at 1.44 million (up 8 percent from August 2005), September at 1.4 million (up 4.1 percent from September 2005) and October — the traditional annual peak of the shipping season — at 1.45 million (up 6.2 percent from October 2005).
   During the remainder of the six-month forecast, numbers will drop off but will still remain higher than year-ago numbers, Global Insight is predicting. November is forecast at 1.34 million (up 6.1 percent from November 2005), December at 1.3 million (up 7.9 percent from December 2005), and January at 1.24 million (up 2.2 percent from January 2006).