"This year may be a repeat of 2012 in terms of import growth," says U.S. trade expert and CEO of Zepol Paul Rasmussen, "We didn't see a dramatic move from 2011 to 2012, and so far in January, the numbers aren't surprising. I think modest increases can be expected this year as we continue the slow bounce-back from the recession."

Quick Stats for U.S. Imports in January of 2013:

1. Exporting Countries - U.S. imports from Asia increased this month by 11.5%, but actually decreased from Europe by almost 11%. China and South Korea contributed to the majority of this increase, both rising by nearly 13%. Germany and Italy, the top exporting countries to the United States from Europe, can be attributed to much of the continent's decrease in January. Both countries dropped from December TEUs by 17.7% and 16.9%, respectively.

2. U.S. Ports - Due to the increase in Asian exports, the nation's busiest ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach, both posted high increases in TEUs from last month by over 11%. The Port of Newark/New York, the third largest port, only had a slight increase in traffic by 0.7%. Other notable increases were seen from the Port of Savannah by 10.7% and the Port of Seattle by 20.6%.

3. Carriers - As for cargo vessels, nine of the top ten carriers increased in traffic in January. Maersk Line rose in TEUs by 11.4% and similarly APL Co. increased by 11.7%. Other increases were seen from Mediterranean Shipping Company and Hanjin Shipping Company, which both rose 9.3% and 6.7%. Evergreen line was the only top-ten carrier to decrease from December by a slight 2%.

Zepol's data is derived from bills of lading entered into U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Automated Commercial Environment. This information represents the number of house manifests entered by importers of waterborne vessel goods. The data excludes shipments from empty containers and those labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.

Source: Zepol Corporation