Retail container traffic to be up 13% in March

Washington, D.C. Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 13% in March compared with the same month a year ago. In addition, double-digit increases are expected to continue through the summer as the U.S. economy begins in improve, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“These numbers show that retailers continue to anticipate improvements in the U.S. economy,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF VP for supply chain and customs policy. “This is very different from the past two years when merchants were continually cutting their imports in an effort to manage inventory.”

U.S. ports handled 1.08 million twenty-foot equivalent units in January, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was down just under 1% from December as imports wound down after the holiday season, but up 2% from January 2009.

It was also the second month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year monthly declines.

One TEU is one 20-ft. cargo container or its equivalent.

February was estimated at 1.08 million TEU, the same as January but a 29% increase over unusually low numbers in February 2009, and March is forecast at 1.09 million TEU, up 13% from the previous year. April is forecast at 1.17 million TEU, up 19% as retailers begin to stock up for spring and summer; May at 1.21 million TEU, up 17%; June at 1.26 million TEU, up 25%; and July at 1.33 million TEU, up 20%.

The first half of 2010 is expected to total 6.9 million TEU, up 17% from last year’s 5.9 million TEU.

Imports for 2009 totaled 12.7 million TEU, down 17% from 2008’s 15.2 million TEU and the lowest since the 12.5 million TEU reported in 2003. First-half growth is down from the 25% increase forecast a month ago, but reflects statistical issues at West Coast ports rather than a change in retailers’ import intentions.