Gains predicted in container traffic

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to grow by 8% in April, compared with the same month a year ago, and solid increases are expected to continue through the summer as the U.S. economy improves, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

“Retail sales are starting to improve and retailers are importing merchandise in the quantities they need to meet that demand,” said Jonathan Gold, VP  supply chain and customs policy for the NRF. “We expect these numbers to continue to climb as merchants and their customers move away from the recession and back toward normal shopping habits.”

U.S. ports handled 1.01 million 20-foot Equivalent Units in February, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was down 6% percent from January as shipping hit its traditional slow point for the year but was up 20% from the unusually low numbers seen during February 2009. It was also the third month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year monthly declines. One TEU is one 20-foot cargo container or its equivalent.

March was estimated at 1.02 million TEU, a 6% increase over last year as spring products began to head for store shelves. April is forecast at 1.07 million TEU, up 8% from last year; May at 1.12 million TEU, up 7%;  June at 1.18 million TEU, up 17%; July at 1.24 million TEU, up 12%; and August at 1.32 million TEU, up 15%.

The U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker are:  Los 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.