LONDON: Retailers anticipate a jolly November for U.S. ports, with the National Retail Federation predicting that containerized imports will increase 8.3 percent over November 2014. Furthermore, last-minute importers of holiday merchandise should experience little if any port congestion.
“Conditions aren’t perfect, but the ports are running reasonably well,” said Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chain and customs policy at the NRF. “That’s a dramatic difference from this time last year, when the West Coast ports were experiencing slowdowns and congestion from labor negotiations,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF’s vice president for supply chain and customs policy. The NRF and Hackett Associates on Tuesday released its monthly Global Port Tracker, which tracks containerized imports at all major U.S. gateways.
November 2014 was one of the slowest months of the year on the West Coast, with containerized imports 12 percent lower than in the previous month, according to container volume numbers posted on the website of the Pacific Maritime Association. Therefore, November’s projection is benchmarked off of a weak November 2014, at least on the West Coast.
Retailers last year shipped their holiday merchandise earlier than usual due to the prolonged labor negotiations on the West Coast. “Retailers had instituted costly contingency plans, but were still worried about whether merchandise would be unloaded in time for the holidays,” Gold said.
