Imports rising as West Coast ports recover

The National Retail Federation reports that import cargo volume at major retail container ports is expected to rise 8% in April over the same time last year. The trade group cites the ongoing recovery from a backlog of cargo that build up late last year between tensions over a new labor agreement.

“Progress is being made but there’s still a lot of cargo waiting to be loaded onto trucks and trains and moved across the country even after it’s unloaded from the ships,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “The situation is getting better but we’re still far from normal.”

The Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union tentatively agreed on a five-year contract in February. While ILWU leadership has recommended that members vote for ratification, votes won’t be counted until May 22."

Ports handled 1.2 million containers (20 feet long) in February, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available and historically the slowest month of the year. That was down 10.3% from January and down 3.6% from February 2014.


March was estimated at 1.48 million containers, up 13.5% from 2014. April is forecast at 1.55 million containers, up 8% from last year. As operations normalize in the coming months exports are expected to be 1.57 million containers in May up 5.6%.

The first half of 2015 is forecast at 8.6 million containers, an increase of 3% over the same period last year, according to Hackett Associates a contributor to the monthly Global Port Tracker report.


“The disruption on the West Coast appears to be over and great measures are being taken to clear the backlog of ships sitting offshore,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. “Of course, all those ships being discharged are causing landside issues as workers try to get containers out of the terminal gates and onto trucks and rail.”