United States-bound waterborne shipments finished 2015 on a decline, says Panjiva

United States-bound waterborne shipments finished 2015 on a decline, according to data by Panjiva, an online search engine with detailed information on global suppliers and manufacturers.

December shipments––at 850,446––fell 3 percent compared to November, following a 4 percent drop from October to November. This was in sharp contrast to a 4 percent gain for the same period in 2014, with no growth in 2013 and 1 percent growth in 2012.

Full-year 2015 shipments––at 10,844,363––were up 0.14 percent annually which Panjiva said was much lower than previous years, when U.S. imports showed strong annual growth at a time when the economy was still recovering from a shipment drop that was intact throughout 2008. The 0.14 percent annual gain was well below annual increases of 4.64 percent, 3.40 percent, and 4.60 percent from 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively, Panjiva reported.

“2015 started with complications from the West Coast port labor situation and led to fluctuations in the numbers we were seeing,” said Panjiva Research Director Annelise McCarthy. “And from there we started to see very small growth for a number of months where not much was happening when compared with previous years, but overall we would still view this as positive for the U.S. economy.”

She added that the 2015 holiday season was largely viewed as “weak” in terms of growth in shipment numbers, which was a driver for the end of year slowdown and coming up short in terms of expectations.

The reason for the positive outlook, she said, was that Panjiva expected to see growth level off a little bit in 2015, with similar expectations for 2016, too.

“The high growth seen in previous years was driven by the recovery as opposed to excessive growth in the U.S. economy compared to ppre-2007 levels,” she said.

Key concerns among U.S. importers for 2016 include the current economic decline in China, oil prices, and terrorism, according to McCarthy.