Pandemic’s impact on imports easing, but numbers are still below last year

The impact of COVID-19 at major U.S. retail container ports appears to be easing slightly, with projected imports remaining below last year’s levels but not as much as previously forecast, according to the Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“The numbers we’re seeing are still below last year, but are better than what we expected a month ago,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “It may still be too soon to say but we’ll take that as a sign that the situation could be slowly starting to improve. Consumers want to get back to shopping, and as more people get back to work, retailers want to be sure their shelves are stocked.”
“Imports are erratic, with one month up and the next down,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. “Getting 40 million people back to work will take time, especially with many fearful of catching the virus and staying home. That makes a rapid return to an economic boom unlikely.”
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.61 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units in April, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 7.8 percent from a year earlier, but up 17 percent from a four-year low seen in March and significantly better than the 1.51 million TEU previously expected. A TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent.
May was estimated at 1.58 million TEU, down 14.6 percent year-over-year, but up from the 1.47 million TEU forecast a month ago. June is forecast at 1.56 million TEU, down 12.9 percent from last year but up from the previous forecast of 1.46 million TEU, while July is forecast at 1.62 million TEU, down 17.4 percent from last year but up from 1.58 million TEU previously expected. August is forecast at 1.71 million TEU, just below the 1.73 million TEU expected a month ago and down 12.9 percent from last year, while September is forecast at 1.66 million TEU, slightly lower than the 1.7 million TEU expected a month ago and down 11.3 percent from last year. October, which was not previously forecast, is expected to total 1.73 million TEU, down 7.9 percent from last year. That would mark the first time since April that the year-over-year decline would drop from double digits to single digits.
Imports for the six-month period from April through September are expected to total 9.74 million TEU, a 3 percent improvement from the 9.46 million TEU expected a month ago.
The first half of 2020 is forecast to total 9.46 million TEU, down 10 percent from the same period last year but better than the 9.15 million TEU expected a month ago. Before the extent of the pandemic was known, the first half of the year was forecast at 10.47 million TEU.
Imports during 2019 totaled 21.6 million TEU, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2018 amid the trade war with China but still the second-highest year on record.