NRF Reports Slight ‘Easing’ of Pandemic’s Impact on US Retail Port Activity
The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on major U.S. retail container ports “appears to be easing slightly,” the National Retail Federation reported June 8. Projected imports through September are expected to remain below 2019 levels but not as low as forecast a…
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month ago, it said: “It may still be too soon to say but we’ll take that as a sign that the situation could be slowly starting to improve. Consumers want to get back to shopping, and as more people get back to work, retailers want to be sure their shelves are stocked.” U.S. ports handled 1.61 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in April, NRF said. That was down 7.8% from a year earlier but up 17% from the four-year low in March and significantly better than the 1.51 million containers previously forecast. NRF estimates ports handled 1.58 million containers in May, down 14.6% year over year, but up from the 1.47 million containers forecast a month ago, it said. It’s forecasting June port activity will be 1.56 million containers handled, which would be down 12.9% from 2019, but up from the previous forecast of 1.46 million.