AFTER five months of bad news, import volumes at the nation's major retail container ports are expected to grow 1.7 per cent in August, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker.
The year should end up 2.4 per cent on 2012, said the report from National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
"As the economy continues to slowly improve, retailers are stocking up for their most important sales season," said federation vice president Jonathan Gold. "Merchants have been cautious, but our forecasts show that they plan to make up for it in the next few months."
US ports tracked have experienced year-on-year declines every month since March with the exception of May, which saw a 1.6 per cent increase. In June, the latest month for which actual data are available, the ports handled 1.36 million TEU, down 2.7 per cent from May and 1.8 per cent from June 2012.
July was estimated at 1.4 million TEU, down 0.6 per cent from a year ago.
But the trend is expected to change in August, which is forecast at 1.45 million TEU, up 1.7 per cent from last year. September is forecast at 1.43 million TEU, up 1.9 per cent; October at 1.45 million TEU, up 8.3 per cent; November at 1.37 million TEU, up 6.7 per cent; and December at 1.34 million TEU, up 3.5 per cent.
Those numbers would bring 2013 to a total of 16.2 million TEU, up 2.4 per cent from 2012's 15.8 million TEU. The first six months of 2013 totalled 7.8 million TEU, up 1.2 per cent from the first half of 2012.
"Trade at the ports continues to remain positive, confirming our view that the economy remains on a slow but steady course of recovery," Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. "The question is whether importers are building stock ahead of expected sales demand or in response to recently announced freight rate increases."
Global Port Tracker covers Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades and Miami and Houston.
PORTS
14 August 2013 - 21:33
Port tracker August US import prospects show first upturn since May
AFTER five months of bad news, import volumes at the nation's major retail container ports are expected to grow 1.7 per cent in August, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker.
PORTS
14 August 2013 - 21:33
Port tracker August US import prospects show first upturn since May
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