We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Change Me
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Change Me
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
Home » Ocean imports in July to hit highest levels in at least five years, report predicts
newsworthy

Ocean imports in July to hit highest levels in at least five years, report predicts

July 9, 2014
Mark B. Solomon
No Comments

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and West Coast ship management have taken three days off from negotiations aimed at reaching a new contract covering more than 13,000 workers at 29 ports from Seattle to San Diego. There is no such respite, however, for those handling cargoes pouring into U.S. commerce as retailers scramble to import their goods ahead of any labor-related disruption.

Both sides agreed to the break, which runs until tomorrow morning, so ILWU leaders could deal with a protracted labor dispute in the Pacific Northwest, where unionized dockworkers have been locked out by two Japanese-owned grain operators since earlier this year. The workers, represented by four ILWU locals, have operated without a contract since September 2012.

Today, two unions representing tugboat captains and crews joined with environmentalists in asking the Japanese government to intervene to help resolve the dispute. The groups have also asked the U.S. Coast Guard to take a more active role in patrolling the Columbia and Willamette rivers, saying management's use of nonunion tug and towboat operators with no experience navigating the rivers poses a safety and environmental risk to the region.

Meanwhile, containerized cargo continues to flow unimpeded into the ports covered by the ILWU-Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) contract. The six-year compact agreed to in 2008 expired on July 1. Since then, it has been business as usual on the docks, although no formal contract extension was agreed to until the three-day hiatus began on July 8.

What is clear is there is currently a lot of business to be handled. Import volume at the largest U.S. ports in July will reach 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the highest monthly levels at least since 2009 and perhaps since the data sets were created in 2000, according to a monthly forecast released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and consultancy Hackett Associates.

The report projects 1.51 million TEU imports will enter U.S. commerce in August. In May, the latest month for which final numbers are available, 1.48 million TEUs moved through the ports, up 3.7 percent from April and 6.6 percent from May 2013, the report said.

The report found that West Coast ports handled 59 percent of retail containerized cargo in May, down from 62 percent in January. This indicates that retailers are increasingly diverting freight to East Coast ports in an effort to steer clear of labor disruptions. Of the ports canvassed, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, and Tacoma are on the West Coast. The rest are along the eastern seaboard, with one, Houston, in the Gulf.

In the June report, NRF and Hackett forecast an earlier-than-normal spike in import volumes as retailers pulled orders and deliveries forward in anticipation of a possible work stoppage. Volumes that would normally hit their peak in August would instead hit their highs in July, the report said at the time.

Meanwhile, a second-quarter survey of hundreds of shippers by investment firm Morgan Stanley & Co. found the number of respondents reporting higher year-over-year inventory levels exceeded the number of respondents reporting lower year-over-year levels by the widest amount since the firm began tracking responses in early 2009. In a research note issued last week, Morgan Stanley said the responses could reflect a bump in inventory restocking following the harsh winter. The firm said some of the increase could be due to decisions in the quarter to pull orders forward in advance of potential labor unrest. However, it added that it would be impossible to quantify the impact.

Some shippers seem largely unperturbed by it all. A late June survey of about 50 shippers by New York-based Wolfe Research, an investment firm, found that the absence of acrimony between the two sides signals that a prolonged work stoppage is unlikely. Only 10 percent of respondents expect third-quarter volumes to be weaker than in the second quarter, according to the survey.

Still, about 30 percent of respondents did accelerate imports into the West Coast during the quarter in advance of the July 1 deadline, the firm said.

Jim Gaw, executive vice president of the Hub Group Inc., a leading intermodal marketing company that sells intermodal services for the nation's railroads, said his company saw a spike in import flows in late May and early June as several retail customers accelerated their order flows. However, that level of activity has since abated, Gaw said in an e-mail.

Transportation Rail Maritime & Ocean Global Logistics
KEYWORDS Hub Group Morgan Stanley & Co.
  • Related Articles

    Heavy-duty truck orders in January hit highest monthly levels in nearly 12 years

    Oil prices hit highest levels in more than two years

    Retail imports jumped to unexpected levels in July, NRF and Hackett say

Marksolomon
Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.

Recent Articles by Mark Solomon

Coming together for road safety: interview with Joshua Girard

Off the rails

Freight rate spikes shaking up the C-suite

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • IBM survey says digitalization trends will sweep trucking industry by 2030

  • Gartner survey signals increased investment in resilience over the next two years

  • What Level of Automation is Right for Your Warehouse?

  • Growing up … and up and up: interview with Sam Bertram

  • Old Dominion adds nine freight service centers to handle business growth

Now Playing on DCV-TV

D92f0dd1 a98c 434a 9e17 30b63ee72c90

Automated Pack-out and Print-Apply System for thredUP

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
SilMan Industries designed and implemented a mixed polybag-carton system, including automated print and apply, in a new regional Fulfillment Center for thredUP, one of the world’s largest online resale platforms for women’s and kids’ apparel, shoes, and accessories. The Situation Secondhand clothing and online...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Time to rethink your lift truck power

  • Warehouse Management System Project Toolkit

  • Solving Talent Management Challenges Now and In the Future

  • Shaping Up Last Mile Delivery to Surpass Customer Expectations

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2021. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing