Trade intelligence company Zepol reports that U.S. import shipment volume for January, measured in TEUs, increased 13.4 percent from December, and rose 5.8 percent from January 2011. The total number of inbound shipments also increased 12 percent from December and 6.4 percent from January of last year. The rise in January 2012 imports is similar to 2011's data, which also saw a significant increase in January from December of 8.5 percent. However, this trend was opposite in 2010 and 2009, which both fell in January from December numbers.

Key Statistics from this Month's Update:

1. TEU imports from China rose 20 percent in January from December, while Japanese imports dropped 11.7 percent. Total TEUs for Asia in January increased by 17 percent. Imports from Europe were also up 3 percent in January with significant rises from the countries of Spain and Turkey, which posted TEU increases of 12 percent and 34 percent, respectively from December.

2. All of the top-ten ports increased in TEU imports in January. The number one port for January was Los Angeles, which saw a 12.5-percent rise in TEUs. The port of Savannah witnessed a notable increase of 26 percent in January, as well as the port of Seattle, which increased 19 percent from December.

3. For master carriers, the overall rise in shipments was seen in every top carrier for January. Specifically Maersk Line, which had a 17.5-percent growth from December. APL also had a large increase from the previous month of 22 percent, a happy spike compared to APL's 13-percent drop from November to December. The Mediterranean Shipping Company saw a lull in November to December as well, but a 13.5-percent increase in January, which is the common trend for overall U.S. imports from 2011 to 2012.

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.  The data excludes shipments from empty containers and shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and it may contain other anomalies.

Source: Zepol Corporation