Container Traffic Nears Annual Low Point

February 11, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on February 2007 February typically is the slowest month in terms of traffic at major U.S. container ports, but activity should grow this month compared to February 2005, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released last week.

Port Tracker, produced by the economic research, forecasting and analysis firm Global Insight for the National Retail Federation, examines inbound container volume, the availability of trucks and railroad cars to move cargo out of the ports, labor conditions and other factors that affect cargo movement and congestion.

“The slow season will be at its slowest in February,” Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said. “Container volumes are expected to be down below already-slow January traffic levels but U.S. ports are operating congestion-free, while truck and rail performance is more than adequate for the slow-season volume. Even though it’s the slow season, we’re still seeing increases compared with a year ago. Traffic isn’t likely to grow as quickly as it did last year, but each month is still expected to set new records for that month.”

All U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker – Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma and Seattle on the West Coast, and New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast – are currently rated “low” for congestion, the same as last month.

Nationwide, the ports surveyed handled 1.26 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of container traffic in December, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. The figure was down 6.7 percent from November but up 5 percent from December 2005.

Volume is expected to follow its usual pattern of declining over the winter months, although numbers will continue to show growth above one year ago. January is forecast at 1.24 million TEUs (up 2.3 percent from January 2006), and February (historically the slowest month of the year) at 1.17 million TEUs (up 9.8 percent). Volume will begin to move upward again in March, forecast at 1.28 million TEUs (up 3.1 percent). April is forecast at 1.37 million TEUs (up 3.4 percent), May at 1.39 million TEUs (up 6.1 percent), and June at 1.43 million TEUs (up 5.7 percent from June 2006).