Cargo volume at the nations major retail container ports is now expected to decline 6.5% in 2008 compared with 2007 as merchants carefully manage inventories in response to the nations slow economy.
Volume is projected to total 15.43 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units for the year, compared with 16.5 million TEU in 2007.
The estimate is down from 15.5 million projected in September, which would have been a 6% decline from 2007. One TEU is one 20-foot container or its equivalent. September was estimated at 1.34 million TEU, down 9.2% from a year ago, and October is forecast at 1.38 million TEU, down 4.3%.
October should be the peak month of the year, though it will fall short of the 1.48 million TEU peak for 2007 set last September. November is forecast at 1.28 million TEU, down 6.9%, and December at 1.25 million TEU, down 2.1%. January 2009 is forecast at 1.21 million TEU, down 1.6% from January 2008, and February 2009 is forecast at 1.15 million TEU, down 5.9%.
