The Trucker Newspaper - December 15-31, 2015

10 • December 15-31, 2015 Nation
thetrucker.com
Last round of holiday imports hitting
ports in time to feed increased sales
The Trucker file photo
The National Retail Federtion is forecasting
a 3.7 percent increase in holiday sales
this year over 2014. Cargo volume does not
directly correlate with sales figures because
each container counts the same regardless
of the value of its content, but nonetheless
provides a barometer of retailers’ expectations.
TRUCKER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON —The nation’s major retail
container ports are expected to see increased volume
compared to last year as stores bring in the
last round of merchandise for the holiday season,
according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report
from the National Retail Federation (NRF)
and Hackett Associates.
“The holiday season is well under way and
merchants are doing the final balancing act of
matching supply to demand,” NRF Vice President
for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan
Gold said December 8. “Retailers went into
the season with strong inventories that ensured
consumers would have a good depth and breadth
of selection, and that should hold true for the remainder
of the season.”
NRF is forecasting a 3.7 percent increase in
holiday sales this year over 2014. Cargo volume
does not directly correlate with sales figures because
each container counts the same regardless of
the value of its content, but nonetheless provides a
barometer of retailers’ expectations, Gold said.
Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled
1.56 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units
(TEU) in October, the latest month for which
after-the-fact numbers are available. That was
down 4.1 percent from September and down 0.1
percent from a year ago. One TEU is one 20-footlong
cargo container or its equivalent.
November was estimated at 1.5 million TEU,
up 7.4 percent from 2014, and December is forecast
at 1.44 million TEU, down 0.1 percent from
last year. Those numbers would bring 2015 to a
total of 18.3 million TEU, up 5.5 percent from
last year. The first half of 2015 totaled 8.9 million
TEU, up 6.5 percent over the same period
last year.
Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said
retailers are still working off excess inventory
built up after dock workers agreed to a new contract
early this year, ending a months-long labor
dispute. Warm weather that diminished the demand
for winter clothing also contributed to the
excess inventory.
“U.S. retail sales increased in October by the
most in three months and consumer sentiment
rose as well, but the inventory-to-sales ratio remained
stubbornly high at levels not seen since
the Great Recession in 2009,” Hackett said. “Personal
savings increased, but on the flip side so did
the use of credit cards.”
Global Port Tracker, produced for NRF by
Hackett Associates, covers major U.S. ports on
both coasts, along with Houston.
NRF claims to be the world’s largest retail
trade association, representing discount and department
stores, home goods and specialty stores,
Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers,
chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the
United States and more than 45 countries. Retail
is the nation’s largest private sector employer, according
to the NRF, supporting one in four U.S.
jobs, or 42 million working Americans.
Hackett Associates provides consulting,
research and advisory services to the international
maritime industry, government agencies
and international institutions. 8