NRF: Port still smooth as summer approaches

NRF: Port still smooth as summer approaches    The nation's major retail container ports are operating smoothly this month as the busy summer shipping season approaches, according to the May Port Tracker report released Friday by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.
   'With summer volume increases soon upon us, monthly port container activity is building toward peak season with all ports operating without congestion,' Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said in a statement. 'The 2006 peak season outlook is for continued good performance, although continued challenges to system performance remain with the continued growth in trade. There are renewed concerns with port trucking and congestion at the Panama Canal that add a note of caution compared with last month, but we expect the industry will be able to manage without serious terminal or network congestion.'
   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, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; and Savannah, Ga. on the East Coast — are rated 'low' for congestion, the same as April.
   Nationwide, ports surveyed handled 1.27 million TEUs of container traffic during March, the most recent month for which numbers are available. The figure was up 17.4 percent from February and 20 percent from March 2005. Over the six-month forecast period of the report, volume is expected to climb to a peak of 1.45 million TEU in August, up 9.4 percent from August 2005. Numbers will dip to 1.4 million TEU in September, still up 4.5 percent from the year before. One TEU is a 20-foot cargo container or its equivalent.