NRF: Retail imports remain strong, but COVID still slowing growth

Double-digit growth in imports at the nation’s largest retail container ports is slipping to single digits as pandemic-related supply chain disruptions continue, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report.

U.S. ports covered by the report, released by National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, handled 2.19 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in July, the latest month for which final numbers are available. 

That was up 2% from June and up 14.2% from a year earlier, according to a press release. Ports have not reported August numbers yet, but Global Port Tracker projected the month's volume at 2.27 million TEUs, which would be up 7.8% year over year.

Although it would be the busiest August on record, it would fall short of the 2.37 million TEUs forecast for August a month ago, which would have broken May’s record of 2.33 million TEUs for the highest number of containers imported during a single month since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. 

With two dozen ships waiting as long as a week or more at anchor to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach recently, some cargo anticipated in August may have been delayed into September. And with some sailings from Asia delayed by COVD-19 disruptions there, some cargo could arrive later in the fall than previously expected, the release said.