NRF: Retail imports on the rise

Washington, D.C. – Retail imports appear to be climbing as the holidays approach.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 1.2% in September from the same time the prior year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.



Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.62 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in July, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 2.9% from June and 8.1% from July 2014. One TEU is one 20-ft.-long cargo container or its equivalent.



August was estimated at 1.6 million TEU, up 5.5% from 2014. September is forecast at 1.61 million TEU, up 1.2% from the prior year; October at 1.62 million TEU, up 3.8%; November at 1.5 million TEU, up 7.9%, and December at 1.44 million TEU, down 0.2%.



Those numbers would bring 2015 to a total of 18.2 million TEU, up 5.4% from 2014. The first half of 2015 totaled 8.9 million TEU, up 6.5% from the same period the previous year.



January 2016 is forecast at 1.44 million TEU, up 16.9% from weak numbers seen a year earlier just before West Coast dockworkers agreed on a new contract that ended a months-long labor dispute.



“After supply chain worries earlier this year, inventories are plentiful this fall,” NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said. “Shoppers should have no worries about finding what they’re looking for as they begin their holiday shopping.”