US container import volume increased by 0.4 per cent in December last year from November to 2,107,012 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to the January Global Shipping Report for logistics and supply chain professionals released by Descartes SystemsGroup, which offers cloud-based logistics and supply chain solutions.

Versus December 2022, TEU volume was higher by 9.2 per cent, and up 10.6 per cent from pre-pandemic December 2019. The growth in import volume for all of 2023 is within 4.6 per cent of the same period in 2019, but down 11.7 per cent versus 2022.

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 Canal drought did not appear to affect 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 been affected in December.

The January update of the logistics metrics Descartes is tracking shows container import volume consistent with seasonal import patterns, but indicates that global supply chain performance will be under pressure in 2024 because of the conditions at the Panama and Suez canals and upcoming labour negotiations.

For the top 10 ports, overall US container import volume in December last year was up slightly by 5,415 TEUs versus November.

Chinese imports in December 2023 increased by 0.6 per cent over November to 788,089 TEUs, but they were still down by 21.5 per cent from the August 2022 high. China represented 37.4 per cent of the total US container imports in December, an increase of 0.1 per cent from November, still down by 4.1 per cent from the high of 41.5 per cent in February 2022.

For the top 10 countries of origin, US container import volume in December last year increased by 0.5 per cent (8,179 TEUs) from the previous month, with South Korea having the greatest volume increase (6,414 TEUs) and India (minus 7,806 TEUs) having the largest volume decrease.

Panama’s drought continues and shipping volume through the Panama Canal remains depressed. While November had a large drop, December Gulf Coast container volumes recovered significantly.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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