US retail imports in 2020 appear to be headed toward a new record despite the pandemic, and remain at high levels as 2021 begins, says the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. Imports during the last half of 2020 were an all-time high of 8.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) for the July-October ‘peak season’.
US ports covered by the Tracker handled 2.11 million TEU in November, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was up by 24.5 per cent year over year but down 4.9 per cent from October’s 2.21 million TEU, which set the record for the largest number of containers handled during a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002.US retail imports in 2020 appear to be headed toward a new record despite the pandemic, and remain at high levels as 2021 begins, says the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. Imports during the last half of 2020 were an all-time high of 8.3 million TEU for the July-October 'peak season'.#
December was projected at 2.02 million TEU, down by 17.3 per cent year over year, but still one of only six times in nearly 20 years that the monthly total hit the 2 million TEU mark. If the December number holds up once actual data is available, 2020 will have ended with a total of 21.9 million TEU, up by 1.5 per cent from last year and breaking the previous annual record of 21.8 million TEU set in 2018.
“Nobody would have thought last spring that 2020 would be a record year for imports, but it was clearly an unpredictable year,” NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said in a press release.
“Consumers and retailers once again proved their resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges. Thanks in part to government stimulus, retail sales saw strong growth during 2020 even with the pandemic, and import numbers show retailers expect the economic recovery will continue during 2021,” he added.
January is forecast at 1.96 million TEU, which would be up by 7.7 per cent from a year ago and the busiest January on record; February at 1.6 million TEU, up by 6.1 per cent year over year, and March at 1.64 million TEU, up 19 per cent from March 2020.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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