Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to rise in the high-single-digits this year and remain well below peak levels reached in 2008, according to the latest forecasts from Hackett Associates, which prepares the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation.


U.S. ports handled 1.23 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in November, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was down 1.6% from October as increases for the holiday season wound down, but up 13% from November 2009. It was the 12th month in a row to show a year-over-year growth after December 2009 broke a 28-month streak of declines.


December was estimated at 1.16 million TEU, a 7% increase over December 2009. January is forecast to stay at that level, but the figure will represent an 8% increase over January 2010. The forecast calls for volumes to grow 13% in February, 9% in March and 7% in April before slipping 2% in May.


Volume for all of 2010 is estimated at 14.8 million TEU, up 17% from 2009, when imports plunged to 12.7 million TEU, or the lowest since the 12.5 million TEU reported in 2003. The 2010 number remains below the 15.2 million TEU seen in 2008 and the peak of 16.5 million TEU seen in 2007.


“Our projections for 2011 remain firm, albeit not at the levels of the recovery rates of last year,” Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said.