According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released late last week by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, retail import volume should hit an all-time high by the end of the summer. The rate of import growth at the nation’s major retail container ports has begun to slow after double-digit surges earlier this year, but if Global Port Tracker estimates are correct, August could see the highest monthly volume recorded since NRF began tracking imports in 2000.
“We’re expecting some of the largest import volumes we’ve ever seen, and that’s because retailers are responding to strong consumer demand,” said NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.61 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units, or TEU, in April, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That’s a 4.8 percent increase from March and up 11.3 percent from April 2016. One TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent.
Driven by job and income growth coupled with low debt, the NRF has forecast that 2017 retail sales – excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants – will increase between 3.7 and 4.2 percent over 2016. Cargo volume does not correlate directly with sales because only the number of containers is counted, not the value of the cargo inside. Nonetheless it provides a barometer of retailers’ expectations.
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Source: National Retail Federation
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