Imports surge in race to beat tariffs
The pace of import containers hitting U.S. shores has hastened as retailers look to outpace tariffs.
According to the Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, imports at the nation’s major retail container ports have set another new record, reaching 2 million containers in a single month for the first time. The record is being attributed to retailers brining merchandise into the country in an effort to beat increases in tariffs on good from China, which have been delayed by the Trump Administration.
“President Trump has declared a temporary truce in the trade war, but these imports came in before that announcement was made,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “We hope that the temporary stand-down becomes permanent, but in the meantime there has been a rush to bring merchandise in before existing tariffs go up or new ones can be imposed.”
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.04 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) in October, the latest month for which numbers are available. This a 9% increase from September and a 13.6% increase year-over-year.
October marked highest for a single month since Global Port Tracker began counting cargo in 2000, topping the previous record of 1.9 million TEU set in July, which in turn had beat a record of 1.83 million containers et in August 2017.
November was estimated at 2.01 million containers, a 14% year-over-year increase that would have been a new record if not for the October number. December – normally a slow month with holiday merchandise already on the shelves – is forecast at 1.83 million TEU, up 6.1% year-over year. Those numbers would bring 2018 to a total of 21.8 million TEU, an increase of 6.5% over last year’s record 20.5 million TEU.
But the NRF said year-over-year growth rates and total volume are expected to slow considerably in January, when 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products that took effect in September had been scheduled to increase to 25%.
Trump recently announced, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi, that the increase – and a threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese products – has been put on hold while the two countries conduct 90 days of negotiations.
According to the Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, imports at the nation’s major retail container ports have set another new record, reaching 2 million containers in a single month for the first time. The record is being attributed to retailers brining merchandise into the country in an effort to beat increases in tariffs on good from China, which have been delayed by the Trump Administration.
“President Trump has declared a temporary truce in the trade war, but these imports came in before that announcement was made,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “We hope that the temporary stand-down becomes permanent, but in the meantime there has been a rush to bring merchandise in before existing tariffs go up or new ones can be imposed.”
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.04 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) in October, the latest month for which numbers are available. This a 9% increase from September and a 13.6% increase year-over-year.
October marked highest for a single month since Global Port Tracker began counting cargo in 2000, topping the previous record of 1.9 million TEU set in July, which in turn had beat a record of 1.83 million containers et in August 2017.
November was estimated at 2.01 million containers, a 14% year-over-year increase that would have been a new record if not for the October number. December – normally a slow month with holiday merchandise already on the shelves – is forecast at 1.83 million TEU, up 6.1% year-over year. Those numbers would bring 2018 to a total of 21.8 million TEU, an increase of 6.5% over last year’s record 20.5 million TEU.
But the NRF said year-over-year growth rates and total volume are expected to slow considerably in January, when 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products that took effect in September had been scheduled to increase to 25%.
Trump recently announced, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi, that the increase – and a threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese products – has been put on hold while the two countries conduct 90 days of negotiations.