Ports' Container Traffic Volumes Strong in April
U.S. consumer spending doesn’t appear to be going away soon.
According to the National Retail Federation, import cargo volumes at the nation’s ports should be up 9 percent in April compared with last year. When final figures come in, March cargo volumes are expected to rise 11 percent.
“These numbers are an indication that the economy is recovering and retailers are expecting continued increases in sales through the summer and beyond,” said Jonathan Gold, the NRF’s vice president for supply chain and customs policy. “There are challenges ahead from rising prices for gasoline and other essentials, but inventories are under control and retailers are optimistic.”
The figures were published in Global Port Tracker, a report released by the NRF and researchconsultant Hackett Associates.
For the first half of 2011, cargo volumes passing through the U.S. ports are forecast to inch up 8 percent. In February, cargo volume rose 10 percent over last year, and it was the 15th month in a row that showed year-overyear improvements. That is a vast difference from 2009, when cargo volumes plummeted 17 percent as the country was mired in an economic recession. But 2010 was another story as consumers got back into the spending mode and pushed import volumes up nearly 15 percent.
“The economy is slowly on the mend with many of the key short-term indicators providing positive directions,” Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said. “Consumers are buoyed by falling unemployment and are somewhat freer with their money.”
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., which handle 30 percent of the inbound ocean-going cargo, have also seen healthy gains in cargo volumes in 2010 and this year. For February, cargo container volumes were up 5.6 percent, totaling 554,913 20-foot containers, at the Port of Los Angeles.
At the Port of Long Beach, cargo container traffic in February jumped 10.9 percent for a total of 458,336 containers. —Deborah Belgum
