U.S. imports fall in March

U.S. import shipment volume for March, measured in twenty-foot equivalent unites (TEUs), decreased by 15% from February and by 12.5% from March of 2012.

According to Zepol Corporation,  while February imports were unusually high, March imports were unusually low.

“In fact, imports for the month of March have not been this low since 2009,” noted Paul Rasmussen, a U.S. trade expert and CEO of Zepol. “The reason for this abnormal trend is largely due to the Chinese New Year falling later this year compared to last year, thus the lull in imports was seen a month late this year. Even with March’s low import volume, overall imports for quarter one surpassed 2012 by a slight 0.11%.

Zepol analysts also observed that inbound TEUs from China dropped by nearly 36% from February, due to many Chinese factories shutting down for the holiday. Likewise, imports from Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hong Kong saw significant drops in exports to the United States. On the other hand, Japan and India picked up some market share in March, with imports from both countries rising by 17% each.

Meanwhile, imports to the U.S. west coast were down by thousands of TEUs compared to February. The Ports of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Port Everglades saw significant increases in March, all rising by over 15%. Overall, ports on the east and west coasts saw decreases in imports, while several Gulf coast ports saw increases.

Only one of the top ten VOCCs (Vessel-Operating Common Carriers), Hapag Lloyd, saw a decrease of less than 10% from February to March. Seaboard Marine, Transfrut Express, and Hamburg Sud were a few of the rare carriers to see an increase in import volume for March.