California Apparel News

The first six months of this year barely saw an increase in cargo-container volumes coming through the nation’s major ports.

But it might be a different story in October and November. The National Retail Federation is predicting that cargo volumes in October should see a 9.1 percent jump over last year while November cargo volumes are expected to rise 7.3 percent.

“With the economy recovering slowly, retailers have been cautious with imports this summer, but it’s clear that they expect an upturn later in the year,” said Jonathan Gold, the NRF’s vice president for supply chain and customs policy. “Import numbers have been close to flat since spring, but we expect to see strong increases this fall.”

In its monthly “Global Tracker Report,” the NRF said cargo-container volumes during the first six months of this year were estimated to be up 1.2 percent to 7.8 million 20-foot containers.

In May, cargo-container volumes were almost flat, up 0.5 percent over the previous year. June is expected to inch up only 0.7 percent over last year, and July should see a 1.1 percent bump. August, traditionally a busy time at the ports because of the Back-to-School season, will be slow, with volumes rising only 1.7 percent.

Later in the year, activity will heat up. September will see a 2.4 percent gain in cargo volumes, and then more robust activity will take place in October and November.

In 2012, the nation’s ports saw 15.8 million containers being imported, up 2.9 percent over 2011.