Port Tracker: US box volumes to fall after 16pc September hike

US IMPORT volumes at America's big container ports is expected to increase 16 per cent in September year on year, but decline after that, according to the Port Tracker from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

While October is usually the peak month, July's figures appear to stand as the best of the year, said the report. "The shift was mostly due to backlogs built up due to the lack of shipping capacity earlier in the year after shipowners took vessels out of service during the recession," said the report.

"Importers bought early as a result of a fear of lack of capacity and containers, but also to avoid peak season surcharges," said Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett.

US ports handled 1.38 million TEU in July, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was up five per cent from June and 25 per cent from July 2009. It was the eighth month in a row to show a year-on-year improvement after December broke a 28-month streak of year-on-year declines.

August was estimated at 1.35 million TEU, a 17 per cent up on last year. September is forecast at 1.32 million TEU, up 16 per cent from last year; October at 1.3 million TEU, up nine per cent; November at 1.2 million TEU, up 11 per cent; and December at 1.11 million TEU, up two per cent. January 2011 is forecast at 1.06 million TEU, down two per cent from January 2010.

The first half of 2010 was estimated at 6.9 million TEU, up 17 per cent from the same period last year. The full year is forecast at 14.5 million TEU, which would be up 15 per cent from the 12.7 million TEU in 2009, which was the lowest since the 12.5 million TEU reported in 2003. The 2010 number remains below the 15.2 million TEU seen in 2008 and the peak of 16.5 million TEU seen in 2007.
(Source:www.schednet.com)