Descartes foresees challenging global supply chain performance in 2023

Chinese imports to the United States rebounded with even stronger growth than the overall US container import number.

COVID continues to be a factor and the West Coast labour situation has still not been sorted out. The economy, a key factor in container import volume growth, continues to defy predictions.

January US container import volumes increased by 7.2 per cent from December 2022 to 2,068,493 TEUs. Compared to January last year, TEU volume was down by 16.1 per cent, but only 0.3 per cent lower than pre-pandemic January 2019.

While the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday occurred in January, its impact on container import volumes won’t be felt until late February and early March 2023, Descartes noted.

The overall US container import volume for the top 10 ports in January this year was up by 107,059 with all but the Port of Savannah experiencing growth. The Port of Long Beach showed the greatest overall container volume increase.

Chinese imports into the United States reversed the downward trend in January, with an increase of 11 per cent to 762,967 TEUs but are still down 24 per cent from the 2022 high in August. China represented 36.9 per cent of the total US container imports, a decline of 6.1 per cent from the high of 41.5 per cent in February 2022.

There is still no change in the labour situation which presents continued risk to West Coast port operations. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) contract expired on July 1; however, business has proceeded as usual with the union working with management.

Until now there has been no impact on container processing as has been the case in the past.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)