In December 2023, US container import volume increased by 0.4% from November 2023. The slight aggregate increase masks counter intuitive swings in volume at West, East and Gulf Coast ports. The top East and Gulf Coast ports saw increases, while the top West Coast ports saw decreases.
The Panama drought did not appear to impact US container import volume at East and Gulf Coast ports in December, but port delay times increased particularly at Gulf Coast ports.
The Middle East shipping attacks escalated in December, but container import volumes do not appear to have impacted December.
The January update of the Descartes Logistics Technology Platform shows container import volume consistent with seasonal import patterns but signs that global supply chain performance will be under pressure in 2024 because of the conditions at the Panama and Suez Canals and upcoming labor negotiations.
US container imports grow slightly
December 2023 US container import volumes increased by 0.4% from November 2023 to 2,107,012 TEUs (Figure 1). Versus December 2022, TEU volume was higher by 9.2%, and up 10.6% from pre-pandemic December 2019. The growth in import volume for all of 2023 is within 4.6% of the same period in 2019, but down 11.7% versus 2022.
In the previous six years, import volume varied from slight declines to low growth from November to December with 2018 as the exception due to tariffs taking effect in 2019. December 2023 import volume maintained this pattern with a 0.4% increase from November.
For more information: container-news.com