As everyone in the 3PL community knows, 2009 was a tough year as United States import shipments were down 12.5% and TEUs dropped 11.7% when compared to 2008. The outlook does not look promising as 2010 begins as carriers struggle to stay afloat and rumors of rate increases abound. Below is a review of container shipping in 2009.
The total number of import Bills of Lading has a close relationship with TEUs; looking at the top ten U.S. and International ports shows that few ports saw strong years in 2009.
Kevin Palmstein is the Marketing Manager for Zepol Corporation. Zepol is the leading provider of United States trade information. Zepol’s products, TradeIQ™ and TradeView™, provide access to the latest U.S. Import Customs trade data and U.S. Import/Export Census trade statistics respectively. To learn more about Zepol, visit www.zepol.com and read their trade data blog, www.zepol.com/blog.
Charts are interesting. The numbers for the Port of Vancouver, BC are not accurate. This chart shows an increase in TEU from 2009 over 2008. However, the port of Vancouver was down 10% year on year. Here is a link to the port statistics.
http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/Libraries/ABOUT_Facts_Stats/dec09_container.sflb.ashx
John, the numbers for the port of Vancouver shows how many TEUs from that port entered the United States through U.S. Customs’ Automated Manifest System. It is very likely that because this is only for imports to the U.S. and how the AMS treats essentially exports from Vancouver going to Asia and South America as United States imports that our numbers will not match 100% with the port of Vancouver’s internal data. Thanks for reading and your comment.
Great post Kevin, it certainly gives good insight information.