Import cargo volume starts to slow after drawn-out season
The extended peak season at the nation’s major container ports is finally wrapping up.
Import volume at the ports is starting to slow down compared with persistent high numbers over the summer, according to the Global Port Tracker released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. The peak season started early and was stretched out through the summer and early fall, the report noted.
“Even with any fluctuations in final data, we’re likely past the busiest part of the year,” said NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold. “Most holiday merchandise has arrived, and the remainder of the year is just a matter of last-minute replenishment and preparation for early 2027.”
[READ MORE: NRF: Core retail sales inch up in September]
Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett added that core economic indicators are broadly flat or weakening slightly month over month recently.
"Despite this, consumers appear to remain confident and cautious at the same time, with consumer confidence indexes sliding to multi-year lows while consumer spending continues to be robust in the face of increasing inflation," he said.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units — one 20-foot container or its equivalent — in August, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was down 0.7% from a year earlier but up 0.4% from July to likely make August the busiest month of the year after an extended peak season.
Ports have not yet reported September numbers, but Global Port Tracker projected a drop to 2.28 million TEU, up 8.2% year over year. October is forecast at 2.25 million TEU, up 8.5% year over year; November at 2 million TEU, down 1%, and December at 2.02 million TEU, up 0.6%.
Those numbers would bring 2026 to a total of 25.8 million TEU, up 1.4% from last year’s 25.4 million TEU. The first half of 2026 totaled 12.7 million TEU, up 1.1% from the same period in 2025.
January 2027 is forecast at 2.07 million TEU, down 1.9% year over year, and February at 1.92 million TEU, up 1%.
Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by Hackett Associates, provides historical data and forecasts for the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast.
