Mar US import container volume continues strong trajectory: Descartes

The volumes rose by 20.6 per cent from pre-pandemic March 2019 in the month.

Port transit delays continue to improve as the drought in Panama and Middle East conflict have yet to impact East and Gulf Coast ports.

April’s update of logistics metrics monitored by Descartes show that the first quarter of 2024 has been a strong start for US container imports.

However, concerns around global supply chain performance are still expected throughout the year because of ongoing conditions at the Panama and Suez Canals, upcoming labour negotiations at US South Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, Middle East conflict and the impact of the Baltimore Bridge collapse that remains to be fully reflected in US container import volume data.

For the top 10 US ports, container import volume in March this year was marginally down by 6,180 TEUs (minus 0.3 per cent) month on month (MoM).

The ports of New York/New Jersey (15,295 TEUs), Norfolk (6,819 TEUs) and Tacoma (8,592 TEUs) experienced the greatest container volume increases from February.

The ports of Los Angeles (minus 31,997 TEUs) and Baltimore (minus 6,829 TEUs, influenced partially by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge near the end of March) posted the most significant decreases, with Baltimore representing the largest decrease by percentage (minus 15.7 per cent).

This is the second continuous month where Los Angeles has posted a 30,000 TEUs decline in MoM volume.

Chinese imports into the United States fell for the second consecutive month in March—mostly due to the Chinese Lunar New Year, decreasing by 13.8 per cent MoM to 697,375 TEUs. China represented 32.5 per cent of the total US container imports in March, a decrease of 5 per cent MoM, and down by 9 per cent from the high of 41.5 per cent in February 2022.

For the top 10 countries of origin, US container import volume in March this year fell by 51,456 TEUs, a 3.4 per cent decline MoM. Imports from China (minus 111,672 TEUs) experienced the greatest volume decrease while India (23,657 TEUs) and South Korea (32,493 TEUs) represented the largest volume increases.

March 2024 port transit delays show continued improvement across nearly all the top ports apart from Tacoma and Seattle, which increased slightly over February delay averages. The Port of Oakland saw the largest decline in delays (2.8 days) followed by Long Beach (1.1 days). 

Despite ongoing capacity constraints at the Panama Canal, volume at US Gulf Coast ports remains stable. Compared to February this year, March 2024 Gulf Coast container import volumes were mostly flat, increasing only by 0.2 per cent to 226,215 TEUS.

The stable volumes at East and Gulf Coast ports also meant that port transit times remained the same.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)