U.S. cargo down for 18th month in a row
February 9, 2009 by Splatty
Filed under Seafreight
Cargo volumes at U.S. ports are down for the 18th consecutive month according to a report by the National Retail Federation. Projections for 2009 are looking pretty grim as the NRF forecasts cargo volumes to decline at an even faster pace for the first half of this year.
Via NRF.com:
Volume for the first six months of 2009 is forecast at 6.6 million TEU, down 11.8 percent from the 7.5 million TEU seen during the same period in 2008. Port Tracker forecasts only six months into the future, so an estimate of volume for the entire year won’t be available until this summer.
“2008 was one of the most challenging years retailers have seen, and all indications are that 2009 won’t be any better,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Unfortunately, cargo volume at the ports reflects retailers’ anticipated sales, and NRF expects that sales will get worse before they get better. Retailers are only going to import what they can sell.”
According to the report, U.S. ports handled 1.06 million TEUS in December which represented a decline of 13.9 percent from November and 17.2 percent compared to December of 2007.
In my local market I am seeing an influx of quote requests from importers clamoring to do everything they can to minimize costs and take advantage of rapidly falling container rates.
Ports covered in the report include; 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.
Related Posts:
West Coast Ports report container traffic decline | Third Party Logistics News - 3PLwire on Mon, 16th Mar 2009 6:51 pm
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