WASHINGTON, DC - Despite continued port congestion on the East and West Coasts of the United States, the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates have announced that major retail container ports are beginning to catch up. As this shift shows a positive change for the supply chain, another surge could hit ports this summer, causing more slowing.

“As we entered 2022, the biggest question was when the supply chain would return to normal,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Unfortunately, we still don’t have a definitive answer. Congestion at West Coast ports has eased, but congestion at some East Coast ports is growing. Ports aren’t as overwhelmed as they were a year ago, but they are still significantly busy, moving near-record volumes of cargo.”

According to the NRF and Hackett Associates’ monthly Global Port Tracker, United States ports handled 2.11 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in February, a press release explained. This number is down 2.3 percent from January but up 13 percent year-over-year.

Although ports have yet to report March numbers, Global Port Tracker projects the month at 2.27 million TEU, unchanged from last year. April is forecast at 2.13 million TEU, down 1.1 percent from last year, and May at 2.21 million TEU, down 5.3 percent year-over-year.

“With West Coast ports still congested, there were still plenty of containers to be unloaded,” Ben Hackett, Founder of Hackett Associate, said. Similarly, the current near-shutdown of Shanghai because of COVID-19 precautions means fewer ships are leaving China, and “the wait on that side of the Pacific will help reduce the pressure of vessel arrivals at Los Angeles-area terminals.”

To see what else NRF had to say about U.S. Ports and its predictions for the rest of 2022, click here.

What does the future hold for ports across the nation? Keep reading AndNowUKnow for the answers.

National Retail Federation