Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to remain at about the same levels as last year through July before starting to resume increases later this summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.


U.S. ports followed by Global Port Tracker handled 1.22 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in April, the latest month for which numbers are available. That was up 12 percent from March and 7 percent from April 2010. It was the 17th month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December 2009 broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines. One TEU is one 20-foot cargo container or its equivalent.


May volume was estimated at 1.27 million TEU, only one-third of 1 percent over May 2010.


Year-over-year growth is expected to hover around 1 percent in until August, when it will bump up to 3 percent before accelerating to 12 percent in September and 19 percent in October as stores and their vendors restock for the holidays.


Imports during 2010 totaled 14.7 million TEU, a 16 percent increase over 2009.