In October 2023, U.S. container import volume increased from September 2023, moving significantly ahead of October 2019 imports. Instead of the peak season decline that traditionally starts in the August timeframe, import volumes continue to rise and begin to approach the levels that resulted in port congestion during the pandemic, reports Descartes.
Container import volume
Imports from China continued to increase, but at a slower pace than in previous months. Despite the volume increase, port transit times stabilized or retreated to some of their lowest levels. Despite favorable labor conditions and concerns about the Panama Canal drought, the top West Coast ports’ volume declined.
The Panama drought does not appear to be impacting U.S. container import volume given yearly import highs for Gulf Coast ports. The November update of the logistics metrics Descartes is tracking shows abnormal seasonal import patterns and signs that some of the key challenges to global supply chain performance in 2023 are improving, but others are not.
U.S. container imports accelerate
October 2023 U.S. container import volumes increased 4.7% from September 2023 to 2,307,918 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) (see Figure 1). Versus October 2022, TEU volume was higher by 3.9%, and up 11.4% from pre-pandemic October 2019. The growth in import volume over the first ten months of 2023 is within 3.4% of the same period in 2019.
In the previous six years, import volume increased from September to October as it is one day longer and has no major holidays. October 2023 import volume maintained this trend with a robust increase over September.
For the top 10 ports, overall U.S. container import volume in October 2023 was up 87,652 TEUs versus September (see Figure 3) with six of the ten ports showing increases. The Port of New York/New Jersey (44,621 TEUs) experienced the greatest overall container volume increase, while the Ports of Los Angeles (-16,813 TEUs) and Long Beach (-12,313 TEUs) had the greatest decreases.
Chinese imports in October 2023 increased by 2.3% over September 2023 to 886,842 TEUs, but they were still down 11.6% from the August 2022 high (see Figure 4). China represented 38.4% of the total U.S. container imports in October, a decrease of 0.9% from September and down 3.1% from the high of 41.5% in February 2022.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: Descartes
