Retail container traffic growing, but still below last year

Traffic at the nation's major retail container ports will grow steadily this summer, but will nonetheless remain at or below last year's levels because of the nation's economic slowdown, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and the economic forecasting firm Global Insight.

Import container traffic is forecast to continue to be quite weak through September due to the underlying weakness in consumer demand in the U.S. economy, said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy. Retailers are watching consumers' shopping patterns very carefully this year, and the volume of imports reflects what merchants expect they can sell in their stores. These numbers show a cautious approach to inventory management for this fall.

Record high fuel prices are causing increasing pain for port truckers, but with traffic demand soft, port operations are expected to continue to remain steady, Global Insight Economist Paul Bingham said. The covered ports are operating without congestion from harbor to gate with adequate capacity even as volumes are increasing.

U.S. ports surveyed handled 1.16 million of container traffic in March, the most recent month for which actual numbers are available. That's down 4.8 percent from February -- traditionally the slowest month of the year -- and represented the lowest monthly volume since the 1.11 million TEU imported in February 2006. The number was down 8.5 percent from March 2007.

April was estimated at 1.28 million TEU, down 3.2 percent from a year ago, and May is forecast at 1.31 million TEU, down 4.8 percent. June is forecast at 1.35 million TEU, down 7 percent, and July at 1.41 million TEU, down 2 percent. August is forecast at 1.46 million TEU, flat with last year's August numbers. September is forecast at 1.48 million TEU, a 3 percent increase over last year.

All U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker -- Los Angeles-Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York-New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast; and Houston on the Gulf Coast -- are rated low for congestion, the same as last month. 

Source: American Shipper