Descartes: Container volumes at Top US West Coast ports increase significantly in March

Descartes Systems Group has released the April Global Shipping Report for logistics and supply chain professionals. US container imports in March 2023 increased significantly compared to February 2023, mainly thanks to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. For now, the trend line for monthly volumes still shows that 2023 volume is closely following pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Despite the overall growth, port transit delays remained stable for all ports. Imports from China continue their downward trend and are nearly 10% below their February 2022 high. The West Coast labor situation remains unresolved. The March update on logistics metrics that Descartes is tracking shows a similarity in import volumes before the pandemic but continues to point to challenging global supply chain performance in 2023.

In March 2023, US container imports increased by 6.9% compared to February 2023 to 1,853,705 TEUs. Compared to March 2022, in March 2023 production was down 27.5%, but up 4.2% compared to March 2019 before the pandemic. Two points to consider with the March numbers:
1) March has 31 days compared to February's 28 days; and
2) Given the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday taking place in January 2023, there could still be some impact on container imports as early as March 2023.

“Container import volumes at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been in decline, but in March they experienced significant increases. 2023 continues to track 2019 volumes," said Chris Jones, Executive Vice President of Industry and Services at Descartes. "There was also good news in that the port transit delay times remained constant despite the significant volume increases.”

Source: phaata.com