A closer look at U.S. imports for June shows:

1. Exporting Countries - The majority of Asian countries saw a minor drop in shipments to the United States; China decreased by 0.03% from May and similar percentages were seen from South Korea and Japan. Germany, on the other hand, had a fairly large drop of 12.9% from May. On a different note, Brazil and Chile both rose in exports to the United States in June by 14.3% and 7.2%, respectively.

2. U.S. Ports - Seven of the top 10 ports dropped in TEU imports in June. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach decreased in imports from May by 5% and 3.7%, respectively. The Port of Seattle had the highest import increase of the top ten by 2.2%. Another notable increase was seen from the Port of Miami, which rose 4.8% last month. For Q2 of 2012, the Port of Tacoma had a giant import spike of 23.3% from Q2 of 2011.

3. Carriers - Similar to countries and ports, most VOCCs (vessel operating common carriers) were down in TEU imports in June. Maersk Line saw a 6.6% decrease in imports and Mediterranean Shipping Company also dropped 8.6%. Conversely, China Ocean Shipping Company and Orient Overseas Container Line both rose over 8% from May. For total Q2 numbers, Maersk Line and CMA CGM take the cake for the largest import increases; Maersk rose 16.9% from Q2 of 2011 and CMA CGM was up 18.5%.

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 vessel goods.

Source: Zepol Corporation