U.S. June imports see mild declines but are ahead of 2019 levels, reports Descartes

United States-bound container import volumes saw a slight sequential decline, from May to June, after growing from April to May, while volumes topped 2019 levels.

That was a key thesis in the June Global Shipping Report issued this week by Waterloo, Ontario-based Descartes, a provider of logistics based on-demand, software-as-a-service offerings. This is the 23rd edition of the Global Shipping Report, going back to its debut in August 2021.

From May to June, Descartes reported that U.S.-bound container import volumes were off 0.7%. coming in at 2,081,793 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units), while falling 16.1% compared to June 2022 and rising 6.0% compared to June 2019, prior to the onset of the pandemic. What’s more, the 0.7% May to June decrease represents the lowest decrease for that period going back to 2017. Descartes added that unlike the first four months of 2023, the growth in import volume in June accelerated past 2019 volumes by 2.1% for the same period in each year.

Looking at the top 10 U.S.-based ports, the report found that June U.S. container import volume was down a mere 12 TEU, when compared to May, with the Port of Los Angeles posting the largest volume gain, at 32,486 TEU, for an 8.1% annual gain. The only other top 10 port to post a sequential gain was the Port of Baltimore, with an 8.4% increase, to 3,510 TEU. The Port of Long Beach had the biggest sequential decline, falling 5.0%, to 15,294 TEU.

On a regional basis, the report found that volume share for the top 10 West Coast ports again eclipsed the top East and Gulf Coast ports, each of whom saw share decline for the first time going back to March 2022. When comparing the top five West Coast ports with the top five East and Gulf Coast ports, from May to June, in terms of total import container volume, the report noted that the top West Coast ports’ share rose 0.9%, to 42.4%, and the top East and Gulf Coast ports’ share was down 0.5%, to 42.3%. For total share, the top 10 U.S. ports were up 0.5%, from May to June, at 84.8%.

U.S.-bound imports out of China eked out a 0.3% increase, from May to June, coming in at 783,019 TEU, while off 22.0% compared to its August 2022 high. Descartes said that China accounted for 37.6% of total June U.S. container imports, marking a 0.4% gain, from May to June, and down from a total high in February 2022, at 41.5%.

And as has been the case in previous months, the nation following China, for U.S.-bound container import growth was Vietnam, up 0.3%, or 2,335 TEU.

The report found that June port transit delays were much shorter from May to June and are the lowest they have been since Descartes started tracking them.  

“The Port of Los Angeles saw the greatest reduction which is counter intuitive given the job actions in June by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU),” observed the report’s author Chris Jones, EVP Industry Descartes.

POLA port transit delays went from 7.9 in May to 4.7 in June, with the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Oakland, at 5.9 to 4.1 and 8.8 to 7.2, respectively.