WASHINGTON – According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, imports will continue to clock near-record levels, falling only marginally short of last year’s skying numbers, despite congestion slowing down cargo movement.
Retailers stock up for holidays as ports battle logistics to get the containers out fast
“The cargo is there for larger gains at several ports but congestion issues are impacting fluid operations,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Ships will eventually get unloaded but the pressure is on for everyone to work together to get the containers out as quickly as possible. Retailers are doing whatever it takes to make sure shelves are well-stocked for the holidays, from bringing in merchandise earlier to chartering their own ships. Consumers should be able to find what they need, but it’s always safer to shop early than wait until the last minute.”
“Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse with the logistics supply chain, we’ve been proven wrong,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. “From power outages and port shutdowns in Asia to backed-up ships and shortages of truck drivers in the United States, there are few positive signs that the movement of consumer goods or the supply of inputs needed for industrial production is getting better.”
Hackett mentioned that the breakout of COVID19 in Asia slowed the loading of US-bound ships while logistical challenges like shortage of equipment and unavailability of labor, outbound truck & rail capacity got the US ports to become extremely congested.
70+ ships were waiting at anchor to unload their cargo at Los Angeles & Long Breach ports, as opposed to 25 ships in the last month. Under normal circumstances, cargo ships do not have to drop anchor and wait to enter these ports, and these unprecedented situations are indicative of the extent of congestion at two of the USA’s biggest ports.
Ports handle 1.9% more cargo imports in 2020 despite the pandemic
US ports have reportedly handled 2.27 million TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) in August, as covered by Global Port Tracker. That is an almost 3.5% increase from July and a 7.8% increase from the previous year with March emerging as the second busiest month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. May continues to be the busiest month at 2.33 million TEU.
While September numbers are not available yet, Global Port Tracker has projected the month at 2.25 million TEU. October is forecast at 2.21 million TEU that is a 0.3% decrease from last years’ when the ports opened briefly after the first wave of the pandemic, and retailers wanted to make the most of the raging demands of consumers.
November & December are estimated to be 2.16 million TEU & 2.1 million TEU respectively. It has also been noted that cargo imports during 2020 were 1.9% over 2019 despite the pandemic-induced disruption of supply chains around the world.
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