U.S. Ports See Imports Rebound in November
The biggest gateways reported an inbound recovery after a relatively lackluster peak shipping season
The Georgia Ports Authority said container imports at the Port of Savannah, one of the country’s busiest ports, rose 11.2% year-over-year in November. PHOTO:BLOOMBERG NEWS
Imports through major U.S. ports surged in November as retailers resumed bringing goods into the country after slowing their restocking earlier in the fall.
Seaports including Savannah, Ga., and Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., reported strong growth in container imports in November and the neighboring California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach rebounded after business had eased back following an early peak shipping season.
Los Angeles and Long Beach, together the country’s largest gateway for goods moving by ocean, handled a combined 665,077 loaded container imports, counted as 20-foot-equivalent container units, a standard industry measure.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that U.S. gross domestic product grew slightly slower than estimated in the third quarter, which economists attributed to companies drawing down inventories during July, August and September.The port figures suggest that major retailers are starting to replenish distribution centers and store shelves after paring back stocks this fall as unsold inventories piled up.
That pattern was evident at the nation’s seaports, where import volumes barely grew from month to month during the traditional early-fall peak shipping season after sharp swings earlier in the year. The sporadic performance this year can was in part the result of congestion and delays at the West Coast ports late last year and in early 2015 amid contentious contract talks between the coast-wide dockworkers union and port terminal operators.
Imports rose 11.2% year-over-year at the Georgia ports, 23% at the twin ports of Seattle and Tacoma, 8.7% in Oakland and 5.7% at South Carolina’s Port of Charleston. Import trade remained light at Norfolk, Va., with volume up only 1%. The nation’s third-largest port, New York-New Jersey, has yet to report November container volumes.But the National Retail Federation projected a comeback in November, and several ports are seeing business speed up.
Lighter demand in foreign markets, along with the strong U.S. dollar drove continued declines in exports year over year, as the ports continued to report fewer loaded outbound containers and strong growth in empty containers leaving U.S. shores.
