NRF: Container imports at major U.S. ports set another record in August

Ports covered by the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Global Port Tracker handled 1.8 million TEUs in August, the highest monthly volume recorded since the NRF began tracking imports in 2000.    Major retail container ports across the United States collectively set a second all-time monthly record high this summer for imports, according to the latest monthly Global Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
   Ports covered by the Global Port Tracker handled 1.8 million TEUs of imports in August, the highest monthly volume recorded since the NRF began tracking imports in 2000. The August result, which surpassed the previous record of 1.78 million TEUs set one month earlier in July, was also up 5.6 percent from August 2016.
   September figures are already starting to surface at ports across the nation, with the Port of Oakland handling 79,135 TEUs of loaded containerized imports during the month, a 12.6 percent jump from September 2016, and the Port of Virginia handling 109,716 TEUs of loaded containerized imports, up 9.5 percent from last September.
   Meanwhile, the Global Port Tracker Report forecasts the following import figures for each month for ports covered across the Global Port Tracker, compared to the same month in 2016:
     • September at 1.65 million TEUs, up 3.7 percent;
     • October at 1.72 million TEUs, up 2.8 percent;
     • November at 1.62 million TEUs, down 1.7 percent;
     • And December at 1.59 million TEUs, up 1.3 percent.
   Those numbers would bring 2017 to a total of 19.8 million TEUs, up 5.4 percent from the previous record of 18.8 million TEUs set in 2016.
   Looking into 2018, imports for ports covered by the Global Port Tracker are expected to total 1.64 million TEUs this upcoming January, down 2 percent from January 2017, and 1.58 million TEUs in February, up 10 percent from February 2017.
   Global Port Tracker, which is produced by Hackett Associates for the NRF, covers the U.S. ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Houston.