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Container Traffic Should Rise
December 27,
2009 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on December 28, 2009
Cargo volume at major U.S. retail container ports should end a two and a half year decline with three straight months of year-over-year gains in early 2010. That's according to the monthly Port Tracker report released last week by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight.
"We've been seeing hints of a turnaround in our past few reports but this is starting to look like a clear trend," said NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold. "If retailers are starting to import more merchandise, it's because they expect to be able to sell more and that's a good sign for our industry and the overall economy."
U.S. ports surveyed handled 1.18 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in October, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. That was up 4 percent from September as retailers hit their busiest shipping month of the year as the holiday season approached, but nonetheless down 14 percent from October 2008 and marked the 28th month in a row to see a year-over-year decline.
November was estimated at 1.09 million TEU, down 12 percent from last year, and December is forecast at 1.05 million TEU, down 1 percent from last year. January 2010 is forecast at 1.02 million TEU, down 4 percent from January 2009.
The January figure would mark the 31st month of year-over-year declines, but the trend is forecast to be broken in February 2010, when cargo is expected to total 972,391 TEU. The figure is below the 1 million mark because February is the slowest month of the year, but would be a 16 percent increase over February 2009. March 2010 is forecast at 1.02 million TEU, a 6 percent increase over March 2009, and April 2010 is forecast at 1.08 million TEU, a 9 percent increase over April 2010.
The report now expects 2009 to end with a total volume of 12.6 million TEU, a drop of 17 percent from last years 15.2 million TEU and the lowest since the 12.47 million TEU imported in 2003.