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2/9/2021
Following a record 2020, imports at the nation’s largest container ports are expected to set new monthly records from now into the summer, as the U.S. economy continues to recover from the pandemic, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released yesterday.
Released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, the report showed that retail sales during the 2020 November-December holiday season hit a record $789.4 billion, up 8.3% from 2019. Preliminary figures show retail sales for all of 2020 were up 6.8% year over year.
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.11 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in December, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was up 0.2% from November and up 22.3% year over year.
That brought the 2020 total to 22 million TEUs, up 1.9% from 2019’s 21.6 million TEUs and beating the previous record of 21.8 million TEUs recorded in 2018. January results aren’t yet available yet, but volume in the month was projected at 2.08 million TEUs, which would be a 14.6% year-over-year increase.