The nation's largest retail container reports are going to set new monthly records until the summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
This is due to continuing economic growth.
“The import numbers we’re seeing reflect retailers’ expectations for consumer demand to the point that many factories in Asia that normally close for Chinese New Year this month are remaining open to keep up,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement
“Regardless of whether it’s in-store or on retailers’ websites, the record holiday season and numbers for 2020 show consumers are buying again and have been for a while. This surge has been going on for months, and retailers are importing merchandise faster than ever,” Gold added.
Retail sales during the 2020 holiday season hit a record $789.4 billion, up 8.3% from 2019. Figured from the group show sales for all of 2020 were up 6.8% year-over-year.
“As we continue to struggle with COVID-19 and the ups and downs in the economy, year-over-year increases in the flow of containerized goods have become dramatic,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said in a statement. “It is impressive that the cargo volumes handled by the ports remain as high as they are despite congestion at the docks and the spread of the coronavirus among workers throughout the supply chain.”
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.11 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units in December, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was up 0.2% from November and up 22.3%-year. That brought 2020 to a total of 22 million TEU, up 1.9 % from 2019’s 21.6 million TEU and beating the previous record of 21.8 million TEU recorded in 2018. J
While January results aren’t available yet but the month was projected at 2.08 million TEU, which would be up 14.6% over the same month last year and the busiest January since 2002, topping 1.89 million TEU in January 2019.
February is historically the slowest month of the year for imports, both because of the lull between the holiday season and spring and because factories in Asia close for the Chinese New Year holiday. But with 25-30 ships waiting to dock at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach because of congestion at the terminals from reported equipment and labor shortages and with many Asian factories remaining open during the holiday to meet demand, this February is forecast at 1.91 million TEU, up 26.3 % year-over-year.
Forecasts over the next few months are as follows:
- March is forecast at 1.93 million TEU, up an unprecedented 41% from March 2020, when factories in China failed to reopen because of the coronavirus
- April is forecast at 1.82 million TEU, up 13.3% year-over-year
- May at 1.9 million TEU, up 23.8%
- June also at 1.9 million TEU, up 18.2%.
Each month from January through June would be a record for the month, and the first half of 2021 is forecast at 11.5 million TEU, up 22.1% from the same period in 2020, which experienced a major decline in imports due to the impact of COVID-19.
