TEU

Once again the driving force behind monthly POLA numbers was exports at 197,878 TEU, which is the single highest monthly total for exports, topping October’s 193,548 TEU. November POLA exports were up 15.01 percent annually.

Shifts in inventory management by retailers appear to have made an impact on import cargo volumes at major United States-based container ports, according to the monthly Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

The financial crisis in Europe and overall economic uncertainty are continuing to extend the trend of flattish and slightly declining volumes, according to the most recent edition of the Global Port Tracker Report from Hackett Associates and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics.

As holiday shipping activity recedes into the background, import cargo volumes at major United States-based container ports is expected to decrease in November, according to the monthly Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

Even though a true 2011 Peak Season did not live up to once-promising expectations, import cargo volumes at major United States-based container ports are expected to see a 2.6 percent annual increase in October, according to the monthly Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

Total September volume at the Port of Los Angeles of 705,623 TEU was down -0.84 percent compared to September 2010.

Port Tracker is calling for first half 2011 volumes to be up 7.2 percent, just ahead of last month’s 7.1 percent projection. This would be 5 percent better than the first half of 2010. In 2010, the report said there was a total of 14.7 million TEU moved—a 16 percent gain over 2009, which was largely achieved due to 2009’s 12.7 million TEU serving as the lowest annual tally since 2003.

Despite the increasingly negative economic headwinds of late, May volumes at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach mostly showed some decent signs of growth.

The most recent edition of the Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates is calling for import cargo volume at major United States-based container ports to closely resemble last year, with a leveling off in May volumes.

Following a relatively promising report last month, European import and export volumes remain solid, according to the most recent edition of the Global Port Tracker report from Hackett Associates and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics.

Like last month, the most recent Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates is calling for import cargo volumes at U.S.-based retail ports to decline throughout the rest of 2010.

As was the case in June, volumes at the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB) were strong on a year-over-year basis.

Following last month’s report which noted import cargo volumes at U.S.-based retail container ports would begin to decline in the coming months, the most recent Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates notes that 2010 volume is pegged to hit 14.5 million containers for a 15 percent annual increase.

Even though year-over-year comparisons were relatively easy, June volumes at the Ports of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB) turned in strong performances.