Despite the coronavirus pandemic, imports during 2020 are headed toward a new record, and remain at high levels as 2021 begins, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released on January 8, by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
“Nobody would have thought last spring that 2020 would be a record year for imports, but it was clearly an unpredictable year,” NRF vice president for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement. "Consumers and retailers once again proved their resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges. Thanks in part to government stimulus, retail sales saw strong growth during 2020 even with the pandemic, and import numbers show retailers expect the economic recovery will continue during 2021.”
The high import volume is causing a number of issues, according to the report. Ships coming from Asia are experiencing a backup at West Coast ports. There has also been a shortage of shipping capacity and equipment.
And the pandemic is causing challenges as well. “With COVID-19 accelerating across the country, the pandemic is causing logistics problems beyond the congestion at the ports,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said in a statement. “With large numbers of people infected by the virus and unable to report for work, the supply chain is potentially facing challenges finding enough workers for goods distribution.”
Looking at the numbers, U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.11 million TEUs in November, which is the latest month for which final numbers are available. While that number was up 24.5% year-over-year it was down from 4.9% from October’s 2.21 million TEU.
December was projected at 2.02 million TEU, down 17.3% year-over-year but still one of only six times in nearly 20 years that the monthly total has hit the 2 million TEU mark. If the December number holds up 2020 will have ended with a total of 21.9 million TEU, up 1.5% from last year, breaking the previous annual record of 21.8 million TEU set in 2018.
During the last half of 2020 imports set several new records, including an all-time high of 8.3 million TEU for the July-October “peak season” when retailers bring in merchandise for the holidays.
If January's forecast of 1.96 million TEU is realized it would be an increase of 7.7% from a year ago and the busiest January on record
Other forecasts include:
- February at 1.6 million TEU, up 6.1% year-over-year, and
- March at 1.64 million TEU, up 19% from March 2020, when factories in China failed to reopen after the Lunar New Year holiday because of the coronavirus.
- April at 1.76 million TEU, up 9.6%
- May at 1.86 million TEU, up 21.7%.
