Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to rise 8 percent this month over the same time last year as West Coast ports continue to recover from a backlog of cargo that built up before a tentative new labor agreement was signed, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.
Though the situation is improving, a lot of cargo is still waiting to be loaded onto trucks and trains and moved across the country after being unloaded from the ships, reports the NRF. While the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union tentatively agreed on a five-year contract in February, votes for ratification will not be counted until May 22. The lack of a contract and operational issues led to crisis-level congestion at the ports after the previous agreement expired last July, and issues were not resolved until a federal mediator and Labor Secretary Tom Perez joined the talks.
Ports covered by the Global Port Tracker handled 1.2 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in February, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available–and historically the slowest month of the year. The numbers for TEU, or one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent, were down 10.3 percent from January, and down 3.6 percent from February of last year.
March was estimated at 1.48 million TEU, up 13.5 percent from last year. April is forecast at 1.55 million TEU, up 8 percent from last year; May is at 1.57 million TEU, up 5.6 percent; June is at 1.54 million TEU, up 4.3 percent; July is at 1.58 million TEU, up 5.6 percent; and August is at 1.61 million TEU, up 5.7 percent. The first half of this year is forecast at 8.6 million TEU, an increase of 3 percent over the same period last year.
