Port Tracker report says 2007 container growth ahead of 2006
By Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/1/2007
WASHINGTON — Traffic at retail container ports is starting to pick up, concluding the “slow season,” according to the monthly Port Tracker Report by the National Retail Federation, a retail trade association, and Global Insight, a provider of economic and financial information.
The ports surveyed in the report—Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, and Savannah—handled a cumulative 1.26 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in January, the most recent month for which traffic is available. January’s total was 0.35 percent below December’s output and was up 3.4 percent over January 2006.
Port Tracker author and Global Insight economist Paul Bingham told LM that as TEU volume continues to inch up in the coming months, July may be the month at which 2007 monthly volumes will have grown enough to exceed last year’s peak month volume, which happened in October. This does not mean peak season will be happening in July this year, he said, rather that the 2007 monthly volumes will continue to increase beyond July to another annual peak in October—at even higher levels than last year.
In terms of port activity for March, Bingham said that performance for North American ports is expected to be smooth as the winter winds down, with the one notable exception of the Port of Vancouver. The combination of winter weather-related system disruptions and the February UTU strike against the CN railroad has left lingering congestion and delays at the Port of Vancouver that are not expected to be worked out completely for several weeks. “Beyond this month we don’t expect new interruptions that will cause new delays,” said Bingham.
He also noted that month-to month growth should continue, but at a slower pace than last year—providing relief to carriers and the ports in handling what is expected to be another year of record volumes.
According to the report, traffic will surpass last year’s volume: February is projected to hit 1.17 million TEUs—a 10.2 percent increase from February 2006; March volume is slated to reach 1.29 million TEUs—up 3.5 percent from March 2006; and April is forecast at 1.37 million TEU—an increase of 3.5 percent over a year ago.
“[Shippers and carriers] will have to be vigilant about performance to avoid problems in peak season,” said Bingham. “The ports and carriers will still have to follow through on further improvements and refinements to operating practices and new investments in capacity to handle the growth, but these are proceeding as expected in 2007.” Bingham said that the remaining “disruptive threat” at ports this year is the implementation of the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Worker Identity Credential (TWIC) program.
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