U.S. imports drop but port delays remain

Descartes Systems Group, which focuses on logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, released its October report on the ongoing global shipping crisis and analysis for logistics and supply chain professionals. The report shows that a slowing economy, retailers reducing purchases, inflation and high fuel costs are finally making an impact on U.S. container imports. The decrease in September import volumes did not, however, have a measurable impact on port delays, especially for East and Gulf Coast ports, which continues to point to congested and challenging global supply chain performance for the rest of 2022.

Container imports into the U.S. in September retreated 11.0% versus September 2021 to 2,215,731 TEUs, though volume was still up 9% from pre-pandemic September 2019. September 2022 volume was also down significantly versus August 2022 with a 12.4% decline. China was a significant contributor to the decline as Chinese imports in September were down 18.3% to 820,329 TEUs compared to August 2022 and down 22.7% versus September 2021.

“This is the first month that U.S. container import volumes are seeing the effects of market headwinds, but we haven’t yet seen a similar reduction in port waiting times, which would help improve global supply chain performance,” said Chris Jones, EVP industry and services at Descartes. “The decline in Chinese imports was the greatest driver of the overall decrease in U.S. imports and was felt the most on West Coast ports as most East and Gulf Ports continued operating at higher overall volumes.”

The October report is Descartes’ fifteenth installment since beginning its analysis in August 2021. To read past reports, learn more about the key economic and logistics factors driving the global shipping crisis, and review strategies to help address it in the near-, short- and long-term, visit Descartes’ Global Shipping Crisis Resource Center.

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