April 8, 2021 — The National Retail Federation anticipates that the unprecedented surge of imports at retail container ports which started last summer will continue, at least through the end of this summer, as retailers work to meet increased consumer demand. The news comes following the monthly Global Port Tracker report released this week by the NRF and Hackett Associates. 

“We’ve never seen imports at this high a level for such an extended period of time,” says Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy. “Records have been broken multiple times and near-record numbers are happening almost every month. Between federal stimulus checks and money saved by staying home for the better part of a year, consumers have money in their pockets and they’re spending it with retailers as fast as retailers can stock their shelves.”

NRF shares that imports hit their lowest point in four years last March, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its initial effect on the economy. In March 2020, imports were at 1.37 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). Cargo then rebounded, and hit a then-record 2.1 million TEU in August, peaking at 2.21 million TEU in October. According to the forecast from the NRF, volume is expected to remain at or above the 2 million TEU mark for 11 out of 13 months by this August. Before last year, monthly imports had reached 2 million TEU only once, in October 2018.

This surge caused months of backlog at ports, which have experienced both labor shortages due to Covid-19 and equipment shortages due to the volume. 

For more on the forecast: nrf.com.