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WASHINGTON — Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 1.2% this month over September 2014 as retailers head toward the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 1.2% this month over September 2014 as retailers head toward the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
"After supply chain worries earlier this year, inventories are plentiful this fall," said NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold. "Shoppers should have no worries about finding what they’re looking for as they begin their holiday shopping."
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.62 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) 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 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 last year.
Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said economists have been watching a "stubbornly high" inventory-to-sales ratio this summer. But he said the cause appears to be the flood of cargo that came after the new West Coast dockworkers’ contract was signed rather than weakness in demand.
