December increase predicted for US imports despite port strike

GPT’s conclusions are based on a survey and analysis of inbound container traffic flows at the ports of Charleston, Hampton Roads (Virginia), Houston, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Oakland, Port Everglades, Savannah, Seattle, and Tacoma.

“After a strong kickoff on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the holiday season is looking good and these numbers reflect that,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy. “Nonetheless, we narrowly avoided what could have been a long-term disruption with the strike in Los Angeles and Long Beach and don’t want to run that risk on the East Coast and Gulf Coast. NRF is continuing to urge labour, management and lawmakers to do whatever is necessary to keep our nation’s ports running smoothly.”

The ports followed by Global Port Tracker together handled 1.39m teu in October, the latest month for which finalised numbers are available. That was down 1% from the preceding month, but up 5.2% from October 2011.