March represented another month of strong import growth, according to the new edition of the Global Shipping Report, which issued this week by Waterloo, Ontario-based Descartes, a provider of logistics based on-demand, software-as-a-service offerings.
This is the 32nd edition of the Global Shipping Report, going back to its debut in August 2021.
From February to March, the report observed that U.S.-bound container import volumes eked out a 0.4% increase, to 2,145,341 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), while posting a 15.7% annual gain, ahead of pre-pandemic 2019 by 20.6%. Descartes explained that the timing of the week-long Lunar New Year in Asia, which commenced on February 11 may have held import growth back, as the subsequent impact on U.S. import numbers was not realized until the last two weeks of March.
“Considering declining import volumes from China, March 2024 was a strong month and continues the robust performance that began in January 2024,” wrote Chris Jones, EVP Industry, Descartes, in the report. “Despite the combined effect of the Panama drought and the conflict in the Middle East, port transit delays showed continued improvement across nearly all the top ports, as March volumes at East and Gulf Coast ports remained stable.”
For the top 10 U.S. ports, Descartes found that U.S container volume was off 0.3%, or 6,180 TEU, compared to February, with the Port of Los Angeles down 31,997 TEU (7.8%), the second consecutive month of import volume down by around 30,000 TEU, and the Port of Baltimore down 6,829 TEU (15.7%) seeing the largest declines. It added that Baltimore’s declines being partially influenced by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in late March.
Ports seeing the biggest sequential gains included: the Port of New York/New Jersey (up 4.5% or 15,295 TEU); Port of Norfolk (up 5.6% or 6,819 TEU); and the Port of Tacoma (up 18.9% or 8,592 TEU).
China’s total U.S. import tally, from February to March, fell for the second straight month, driven by the Lunar New Year, falling 13.8%, to 697,375 TEU. This accounted for 32.5% of total March U.S. container imports, off 5.0% from February and off 9.0% from the February 2022 high of 41.5%.
Looking at coastal volume share, the report found when comparing the top five West Coast ports to the top five East and Gulf Coast ports, from February to March, the top West Coast ports were down 2.5%, to 39.5%, and the top East and Gulf Coast ports rose 0.8%, to 44.8%.
For the top 10 countries of origin, Descartes reported that U.S. container import volume in March decreased 3.4%, or 51,456 TEU. China saw the steepest decline, down 111,672 TEU, for a 13.8% decrease, with South Korea saw the biggest gain, up 37.3%, or 32,493 TEU.
Port transit delays improved in March, with Tacoma and Seattle seeing slight gains over February, at 7.5 and 6.7, respectively, and Oakland seeing the biggest decline, down to 6.6 from February’s 9.4.
The report cited various issues the global shipping sector needs to monitor in 2024, including: