Container imports continue to rise in preparation for holiday season

Import cargo volumes at the nation’s major retail container ports increased 8.1 percent compared with July 2014, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.    Import cargo volumes at the nation’s major retail container ports increased more than expected in July 2015, growing 8.1 percent year-over-year compared to a previous projection of 7.3 percent made by the monthly Global Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
   Ports covered by the Global Port Tracker report in July, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available, handled 1.62 million TEUs, a 2.9 percent increase from the previous month.
   NRF attributed the strong growth primarily to retailers stocking up for the beginning of the fall and winter holiday season.
   “After supply chain worries earlier this year, inventories are plentiful this fall,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement. “Shoppers should have no worries about finding what they’re looking for as they begin their holiday shopping.”
   Hackett Associates estimates August volumes at the ports at 1.6 million TEUs, a 5.5 percent year-over-year increase. The firm projects throughput in September to be 1.61 million TEUs, up 1.2 percent from 2014; October to be 1.62 million TEUs, up 3.8 percent; November to be 1.5 million TEUs, up 7.9 percent; and December to be 1.44 million TEUs, down 0.2 percent.
   Should those projections hold true, the dozen ports covered by the Global Port Tracker will have handled a total of 18.2 million TEUs, a 5.4 percent from last year. Throughput in the first half of 2015 increased 6.5 percent to 8.9 million TEUs compared to the same period last year.
   The report also forecasted 16.9 percent year-over-year growth to 1.44 million TEUs in January. Volumes should rebound significantly from a weak early first quarter caused by harsh winter weather and West Coast port congestion that resulted from the contentious labor contract dispute between dockworkers and the Pacific Maritime Association. 
   Economists have been watching a “stubbornly high” inventory-to-sales ratio this summer, according to Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett, but the cause appears to be the flood of cargo that came after the new port labor contract was signed rather than weakness in demand.
   Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, 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.