Imports at 11 US Retail Container Ports to Rise 3.2% in December, NRF Says
The National Retail Federation forecasts that December imports at the nation’s major retail container ports will be 3.2 percent higher than in December 2015 “as stores bring in the last of the merchandise for the holiday season,” in its monthly…
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global port tracker (here). “There’s still shopping to be done, and retailers are making sure the gifts that need to be under a tree are waiting on the shelves,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “Imports are up a healthy amount over this time last year, and that’s a good sign for holiday sales and the economy.” The 11 U.S. ports in the report handled 1.67 million “twenty-foot equivalent units” (TEUs) in October, the latest month for which “after-the-fact numbers are available,” NRF said. That was up 4.6 percent from September and up 7.4 percent from October 2015, it said. One TEU represents one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent, it said. November was estimated at 1.53 million TEUs, up 3.6 percent from last year, and December is forecast at 1.48 million TEUs, up 3.2 percent, it said. Cargo volume for 2016 is expected to total 18.6 million TEUs, up 2 percent from last year, it said. Total volume for 2015 was 18.2 million TEUs, up 5.4 percent from 2014, it said. Cargo volume “does not correlate directly to sales because only the number of containers is counted, not the value of the cargo inside,” NRF said. Still, the numbers serve as a reliable “barometer of retailers’ expectations,” it said.