According to recent research by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, US ports observed by Global Port Tracker (GPT) handled over 2 million import TEUs in May, up 8.5% from April but down 19.3% from May 2022.
The ports have not yet released June figures, but GPT estimates 1.8 million import TEUs, which translates to a 17.5% year-on-year decrease.
This would result in 11 million TEUs in the first half of 2023, representing a 22% decline from the same period last year. In addition, July is expected to be nearly 2 million TEUs, an 11% decrease, while August is expected to be 2 million TEUs, a 10% decrease but the first month to cross two million TEUs since last October.
Furthermore, September is expected to be 1.96 million TEUs, a 3.4% decrease, October is expected to be 1.97 million TEUs, a 1.8% decrease and November is expected to be 1.88 million TEUs, a 6% gain, the first year-over-year increase since June 2022.
GPT has not yet estimated the whole year, but the third quarter is likely to see a total of 6 million TEUs, translating to a decrease of 8.3% from the same months in the previous year, and the first nine months of the year are anticipated to reach 16.5 million TEUs, a decrease of 17.6% from the previous year.
It is important to note that imports for all of 2022 totalled 25.5 million TEUs, down 1.2% from the annual record of 25.8 million TEUs set in 2021.
