With the holiday season over, import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to slowly decline through the first quarter of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

China's cabinet has approved the merger of its two biggest shipping conglomerates, China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and China Shipping Group Company (parent of CSCL), in the government's latest effort to make the industry more competitive globally.

Stakeholders at U.S. ports are spending $9bn a year to accommodate the next generation of super-sized container ships. But simply expanding physical infrastructure will not be enough to mitigate port congestion. With fewer vessels moving more containers per call, U.S. ports need to fundamentally change the way containers are moved in and out of terminals.