NRF: Imports return to normal levels in May

Washington, D.C. - Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports has returned to normal levels following ratification of a new West Coast labor agreement, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.



“Despite some lingering labor issues, the volume of cargo and the rate of growth have both largely settled down,” NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said. “There are still congestion issues to be dealt with but we’re hoping to see reasonably normal back-to-school and holiday seasons this year now that the tensions of contract negotiations are behind us.”



The Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union both voted in May to ratify a new five-year contract agreed to in February. The lack of a contract and operational issues led to crisis-level congestion at West Coast ports after the previous agreement expired last July.



Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.52 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in April, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 12.4% from March, when numbers were driven up by a surge of backlogged cargo after the labor dispute ended, but up 6.1% from April 2014. One TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent.



May was estimated at 1.56 million TEU, up 5% from 2014. June is forecast at 1.52 million TEU, up 2.6%; July at 1.57 million TEU, up 4.9% August also at 1.57 million TEU, up 3.3%; September at 1.6 million TEU, up 0.6%, and October at 1.59 million TEU, up 1.8%.



The first half of 2015 is forecast at 8.8 million TEU, an increase of 5.4% from the same period the prior year.



Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades and Miami on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast.