INCREASING US consumer confidence and demand for new homes is swelling container volumes for importers of household goods.
US imports of household goods, including appliances and furniture, jumped 11.5 per cent last year - more than twice the five-year compound annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent - as the US economy enjoyed three quarters of real gross domestic product expansion exceeding 2.5 per cent - the most consistent stretch of growth since the end of the last recession in June 2009, reports IHS Media.
Housing starts, both single family and multifamily units, are expected to climb in 2018, after getting off to a slow start in a frigid first quarter. IHS Markit forecasts single family housing starts will rise to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 914,000 in the second quarter, after averaging 849,000 in 2017. It was the best year for permits, starts, and completions in a decade.
The double-digit growth in household goods TEU volumes fed traditional store sales and e-commerce sales of bulky items such as sofas, gun safes, and refrigerators. As new homes multiplied, buyers needed everything from refrigerators and washing machines to dining room tables, beds, sofas, chairs, lamps, and other large household items.
Altogether, US shippers imported 2.5 million TEU of household goods last year. The 11.5 per cent surge in imports built on a 9.1 per cent increase in 2016, an early indicator perhaps of a firming economy. Household goods imports by TEU increased only 2.3 per cent in 2015, as the economy cooled. Over the past five years, however, those imports rose 32 per cent.
Manufacturers of washing machines cleaned up last year, with imports shooting up 22.6 per cent year over year to 89,679 TEU, while imports of refrigerators and freezers jumped 16.8 per cent to 208,950 TEU. Furniture represented the largest category of household goods imports, at 1.9 million TEU, a 12 per cent year-over-year increase from 2016 container volumes.
Los Angeles and Long Beach were the biggest ports for household commodities, with their combined household goods imports topping 1 million TEU last year, a 12.7 per cent year-over-year increase. However, Savannah, with a 20.5 per cent gain, was the fastest-growing conduit for household goods imports, as shippers diversified their inland distribution strategies to include more ports.
The Port of Savannah handled 228,750 TEU of household goods, compared with 316,204 TEU for the Port of New York and New Jersey, and 162,473 TEU for Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. The Port of Los Angeles had a market share of 24.6 per cent in 2017; Long Beach, 18.3 per cent; New York/New Jersey, 12.7 per cent; Savannah, 9.2 percent; and Seattle and Tacoma, 6.5 per cent.
US imports of household goods, including appliances and furniture, jumped 11.5 per cent last year - more than twice the five-year compound annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent - as the US economy enjoyed three quarters of real gross domestic product expansion exceeding 2.5 per cent - the most consistent stretch of growth since the end of the last recession in June 2009, reports IHS Media.
Housing starts, both single family and multifamily units, are expected to climb in 2018, after getting off to a slow start in a frigid first quarter. IHS Markit forecasts single family housing starts will rise to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 914,000 in the second quarter, after averaging 849,000 in 2017. It was the best year for permits, starts, and completions in a decade.
The double-digit growth in household goods TEU volumes fed traditional store sales and e-commerce sales of bulky items such as sofas, gun safes, and refrigerators. As new homes multiplied, buyers needed everything from refrigerators and washing machines to dining room tables, beds, sofas, chairs, lamps, and other large household items.
Altogether, US shippers imported 2.5 million TEU of household goods last year. The 11.5 per cent surge in imports built on a 9.1 per cent increase in 2016, an early indicator perhaps of a firming economy. Household goods imports by TEU increased only 2.3 per cent in 2015, as the economy cooled. Over the past five years, however, those imports rose 32 per cent.
Manufacturers of washing machines cleaned up last year, with imports shooting up 22.6 per cent year over year to 89,679 TEU, while imports of refrigerators and freezers jumped 16.8 per cent to 208,950 TEU. Furniture represented the largest category of household goods imports, at 1.9 million TEU, a 12 per cent year-over-year increase from 2016 container volumes.
Los Angeles and Long Beach were the biggest ports for household commodities, with their combined household goods imports topping 1 million TEU last year, a 12.7 per cent year-over-year increase. However, Savannah, with a 20.5 per cent gain, was the fastest-growing conduit for household goods imports, as shippers diversified their inland distribution strategies to include more ports.
The Port of Savannah handled 228,750 TEU of household goods, compared with 316,204 TEU for the Port of New York and New Jersey, and 162,473 TEU for Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. The Port of Los Angeles had a market share of 24.6 per cent in 2017; Long Beach, 18.3 per cent; New York/New Jersey, 12.7 per cent; Savannah, 9.2 percent; and Seattle and Tacoma, 6.5 per cent.