U.S. import shipment volume for May, measured in TEUs, increased 9.27 percent from April and 8.76 percent from May 2010, according to figures from Zepol Corporation, a trade intelligence company. The total number of shipments also increased 9.35 percent from April and more than 9 percent from May 2010. Year to date, total TEUs are up 7.9 percent this year over last year.

Key Statistics from this Month's Update:

1. Shipments departing from ports in Asia continued to spiral upwards, showing an increase of almost 12 percent from April. Once again, much of this can be attributed to a rise in imports from China. Japan posted a 2.43-percent decrease in shipments in May due to the earthquake and tsunami of March. While Europe turned things around with increasing shipments nearly 7 percent from April, Central America recorded a shipment decrease of almost 5 percent.

2. Ports in the Pacific region of the U.S. showed an increase in the number of incoming shipments, particularly in California, which increased nearly 13 percent in May. Within California, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach exhibited a 14.18-percent and 11.34-percent increase in shipments, respectively, from April.

3. The number one carrier, Maersk Line, is back on track, increasing 14.14 percent from April to May after showing a 4.05-percent decrease in April. Evergreen Line, on the contrary, recorded only a 0.44-percent increase in May TEUs after a large increase in April of 21.26 percent.

Zepol's data is derived from bills of lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of house manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month's import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.

Source: Zepol Corporation