U.S. import container volume surges, reaching 11.7 million TEUs in the first half of 2021

Import volumes at the largest U.S. retail container port are expected to grow sharply in the first half of 2021 as increased vaccinations and continued in-store safety measures lead to more shopping options, according to Chain Store Age .

That’s according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates , which comes just weeks after the NRF released its annual forecast, which projects retail sales in 2021 will increase 6.5% to 8.2% from last year, totaling $4.33 trillion to $4.4 trillion.

“ NRF is forecasting record sales growth in 2021 , and retailers are importing large volumes of goods to meet demand, ” said Jonathan Gold, NRF’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy . “We typically see a supply chain slowdown after the holidays , but that hasn’t really happened this winter , and imports have begun to grow again. ”

In January , U.S. ports tracked by Global Port Tracker moved 2.06 million TEUs , or 20-foot international standard containers . That was down 2.3% from December as the busy holiday season came to an end . But it was the busiest January since NRF began tracking import data in 2002 , and the first time the month has surpassed the 2 million TEU mark .

Also, while import figures for February and March are expected to be significantly above normal, year-on-year comparisons are difficult due to the impact of the pandemic. February is traditionally the slowest month of the year as Asian factories close for the Lunar New Year, but last year most factories remained closed until March due to the coronavirus, further reducing volumes.

In contrast, this year, some factories remained open over the holidays to meet a surge in orders, and ships arriving at U.S. ports faced a backlog of unloading .

Although the data for February has not yet been released, it is estimated that the month was 1.88 million TEUs , a year-on-year increase of 24.4% ; March was 1.98 million TEUs , a year-on-year increase of 44.1%. April is expected to be 1.90 million TEUs , a year-on-year increase of 18.2% ; May was 1.92 million TEUs , an increase of 25.2% ; June was 1.92 million TEUs , an increase of 19.6% ; July was 2.02 million TEUs , an increase of 5.3%.

In addition, it is expected that the volume of imported containers in the United States will reach 11.7 million TEUs in the first half of 2021 , an increase of 23.3% over the same period in 2020. The total import volume in 2020 was 22 million TEUs, an increase of 1.9% from 21.6 million TEUs in 2019, breaking the record of 21.8 million TEUs set in 2018.

In summary, with the rapid development of e-commerce today, the increase in US imports is a great opportunity for cross-border sellers. At the same time, transportation companies can also seize this opportunity to appropriately increase their capacity.

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