NRF: March Retail Container Traffic to Rise 13%

March 9, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Delivery on March 10, 2010

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to be up 13 percent in March compared with the same month a year ago, and 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 Monday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

"These numbers show that retailers continue to anticipate improvements in the U.S. economy," NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. "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 percent from December as imports wound down after the holiday season, but up 2 percent 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.

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

The first half of 2010 is expected to total 6.9 million TEU, up 17 percent from last year's 5.9 million TEU. Imports for 2009 totaled 12.7 million TEU, down 17 percent 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 percent increase forecast a month ago, but reflects statistical issues at West Coast ports rather than a change in retailers€™ import intentions.

Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said the U.S. economy appears to be in true recovery rather than the mid-point upswing of a double-dip recession.

"We are in a cautious but sustained growth cycle," Hackett said. "Trade will grow and as a result of statistical comparison with the trough in 2009, the growth rates will appear to be healthy."

Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the U.S. ports of Long Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast. The report is free to NRF retail members, and subscription information is available here or by calling (202) 783-7971. Subscription information for non-members can be found here.