Volume at the nation’s major container ports rose significantly in November as retailers imported merchandise ahead of new tariffs set to take effect this month, according to the Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
President Trump announced a tentative agreement on a partial trade deal with China in October, but the measure has yet to be finalized and a new round of tariffs on consumer goods is still scheduled to take effect December 15.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.88 million TEUs in October, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 0.6 percent from September but down 7.5 percent from the all-time monthly record of two million TEUs in October 2018.
November jumped to an estimated at 1.95 million TEUs, up eight percent year-over-year as retailers front-loaded imports ahead of this month’s scheduled tariffs. That was the highest number since 1.97 million TEUs in August, when retailers did the same ahead of tariffs that took effect in September. December is expected to drop to 1.79 million TEUs both because of the new tariffs and the usual falloff in imports as the holiday season winds down. The projected December number is down 8.9 percent from high numbers seen a year ago during a similar pattern of bringing in merchandise ahead of new tariffs.
The first half of 2019 totaled 10.5 million TEUs, up 2.1 percent over the first half of 2018, and 2019 is expected to see a new annual record of 21.9 million TEUs. That would be up 0.8 percent from last year’s previous record of 21.8 million TEUs.
January 2020 is forecast at 1.87 million TEUs, down 1.2 percent from January 2019. February – traditionally the slowest month of the year because of Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in Asia – is forecast at 1.62 million TEUs, down 0.3 percent from a year ago. March is forecast at 1.76 million TEUs, up an unusually high 9.2 percent because of fluctuations in the Lunar New Year calendar, while April is forecast at 1.84 million TEUs, up 5.6 percent year-over-year.
BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE
