Retail Container Traffic Should Be Up this Summer

May 7, 2012
Import cargo volume will be flat in May, but is expected to see solid year-over-year increases through this summer and the back-to-school season.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports will be flat in May compared with the same month last year, but is expected to see solid year-over-year increases through this summer and the back-to-school season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

“Consumers are spending despite gas prices and other economic concerns, so retailers are stocking up to meet the demand,” says Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chain and customs policy with the NRF. “These numbers show imports growing through the back-to-school season and even into beginning of the shipping cycle for the holiday season. That’s a sign that retailers are expecting a good year.”

U.S. ports followed by Global Port Tracker handled 1.18 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in March, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 14.1% from February, traditionally the slowest month of the year, and 8.5% from March 2011. One TEU is one 20-foot cargo container or its equivalent.

April was estimated at 1.24 million TEUs, up 2% from a year ago, and May is forecast at 1.28 million TEUs, the same as last year. June is forecast at 1.3 million TEUs, up 4%; July at 1.35 million TEUs, up 1.8%; August at 1.42 million TEUs, up 7.2%, and September at 1.45 million TEUs, up 8.7%.

The first half of 2012 should total 7.3 million TEUs, up 1.9% from the same period last year. The total for 2011 was 14.8 million TEUs, up 0.4% from 2010’s 14.75 million TEUs. NRF projects 2012 retail sales will grow 3.4% to $2.53 trillion.

“The economy is on the mend and all the leading economic indicators continue to point the way toward positive growth,” says Ben Hackett, founder of consulting firm Hackett Associates. “2011 was a year of uncertainty that resulted in virtually no growth in import volume but we are witnessing a resurgence of confidence and demand.”

Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by 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.

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