Containerized Imports Dropped Nearly 1% in November

Import shipment volume for November, measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), decreased 0.92% from October and increased 14.23% over November 2009, according to >>Zepol Corp.<<, a trade intelligence company. The total number of shipments rose slightly at 0.20% from October and 14.03% over last November.

Year to date, total import shipments are up 14.17% over 2009 and down 1.22% from 2008. Year to date TEUs show similar numbers, up 15.95% over 2009 and down 0.98% from 2008.

Total shipments from Asia are down 2.11% from October, but European origin shipments rose 12.15% for the same time period. TEU volumes show the same picture: Asia down 3.48% and Europe up 10.18%.

The common perception that October is the most active month for trade was proved wrong in 2010 as August clocked the most import TEUs at 2.06 million. In the last three months, September, October and November have shown month over month decreases of 4.66%, 2.87%, and 0.95%, respectively.

Zepol’s data is derived from bills of lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of house manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data includes shipments from empty containers, may overstate totals from transshipments, and may contain other data anomalies.

Zepol Shipments and TEU Trend
Click to enlarge