Traffic at the nation's major retail container ports should hit a record high in July, then immediately break that record in August, according to the monthly Port Tracker report released recently by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.
"We expect to break records twice this summer and that's before we even get to the peak of the season this fall," Global Insight economist Paul Bingham says. "July should surpass numbers we didn't see until October last year, and August will go higher. The docks, rails and trucks are keeping up, so as long as we don't see any new weather disruptions, shippers can expect acceptable system performance for the next six months."
July is forecast at 1.54 million TEUs of container traffic, breaking last October's 1.51 million, while August is forecast at 1.57 million.
"The ports are going to be busier than ever this summer," NRF vice president and international trade counsel Erik Autor said. "It's crucial that retailers keep a close eye on these numbers to ensure that the goods end up on store shelves when and where they're needed."
Source: National Retail Federation, http://www.nrf.com