Port Tracker reports another new import record

Another month brought another new record, for United States-bound retail container imports, according to the most recent issue of the Port Tracker report, which was issued today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and maritime consultancy Hackett Associates.

The ports surveyed in the report include: Los Angeles/Long Beach; Oakland; Tacoma; Seattle; Houston; New York/New Jersey; Hampton Roads; Charleston, and Savannah; Miami; Jacksonville; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Port Everglades.

Authors of the report explained that cargo import numbers do not correlate directly with retail sales or employment because they count only the number of cargo containers brought into the country, not the value of the merchandise inside them, adding that the amount of merchandise imported provides a rough barometer of retailers’ expectations.

September’s output speaks to how consumers are buying again after adhering to shelter-in-place policies implemented earlier this year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

In the report, NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold likened peak season to the Superbowl of the supply chain world, with retailers making sure they have enough merchandise on hand to satisfy demand during the holidays.

“[T]his is the busiest we’ve ever seen,” said Gold in a statement. “Part of this surge was fueled by restocking after retail sales rebounded this summer and part could be making sure there aren’t shortages if we see panic buying again. The economic challenges of the pandemic aren’t over yet, but this clearly shows how an industry that has been under stress is fighting back in a positive way. Retailers don’t import merchandise they don’t think they can sell, so this is a good sign for the holiday season.”  

Port Tracker reported for September, the most recent month for which data is available, U.S-based retail container ports handled 2.11 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEU), for a new record, topping August’s 2.1 million TEU, which marked the highest tally for containers imported in a single month, at the time, going back to when NRF first started tracking imports in 2002. The previous highest monthly reading, prior to August and September 2020, came in October 2018’s 2.04 million TEU, which was the byproduct of a “pull forward,” related to a scheduled tariff increase at the time. September marked a 12.5% annual gain and a 0.1% sequential increase.

October is pegged to come in at 2 million TEU, for a 6.5% annual increase and the fourth highest-volume month on record, and November, a month when most holiday merchandise has already arrived into the U.S., is expected to reach 1.7 million TEU, for a 0.2% annual increase, while the report had December at 1.58 million TEU, for an 8.2% annual decline.

For all of 2020, Port Tracker reported that 2020 is projected to hit 20.9 million TEU, which would represent a 3.4% annual decline and mark the lowest full-year mark since 2017’s 10.5 million TEU.

“As we near the end of a difficult year in terms of health, trade and politics, we have witnessed record-breaking statistics that have been virtually unpredictable,” wrote Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett in the report. “Imports hit all-time highs this summer and online shopping did the same. Whether similar patterns will continue in the coming months will be influenced to a large extent by the coronavirus pandemic and whether it will be brought under control by the arrival of expected vaccines next year. Supply chain logistics were significantly altered as the majority of consumers remained at home during the first six months of the pandemic and switched to online shopping for a wide range of goods and services, setting records for both the rate of ecommerce growth and its share of overall shopping. This change in purchase patterns resulted in both the development of more warehouses and a sharp increase in inventories in order to accommodate consumer expectations for next-day delivery. The end of lockdowns brought the return of consumers to stores, with pent-up demand pushing inventories down and boosting the need for imports as retailers restocked.”