Descartes releases August Global Shipping Report: July U.S. container import volumes increase from June and continue to track 2019 performance

Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, released its August Global Shipping Report for logistics and supply chain professionals. In July 2023, U.S. container import volume increased compared to June 2023, which is consistent with the rise that occurs in peak season in non-pandemic years. Despite the volume increase, port transit times remained close to their lowest levels since Descartes began tracking them. The U.S. West Coast labor situation continues to progress slowly in the right direction, while the Canadian West Coast labor situation had an eventful month that ended positively. The August update of the logistics metrics Descartes is tracking shows continued consistency with 2019 results and signs that key challenges to global supply chain performance in 2023 have stabilized.

July 2023 U.S. container import volumes increased 5.1% from June 2023 to 2,187,810 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) (see Figure 1). Versus July 2022, TEU volume was lower by 13.6%, and down 0.5% from pre-pandemic July 2019. The growth in import volume over the first seven months of 2023 is within 1.7% of the same period in 2019.

Figure 1. U.S. Container Import Volume Year-over-Year Comparison

“The increase in July U.S. import container volume is consistent with the peak season patterns we would see pre-pandemic (see Figure 2),” said Chris Jones, EVP Industry Descartes. “Despite the increase in import container volume to almost 2.2 million TEUs, port transit times remained close to last month’s low levels which is good news for importers.”

Figure 2: June to July U.S. Container Import Volume Comparison