U.S. retail sales data in November was called "terrorist data" by the media ".
Echoing this, container imports at US gateway ports are beginning to plummet.
Large U.S. ports reported a further sharp drop in the number of inbound containers in November, which undoubtedly makes people worry that the economy will shrink in 2023.
Newly released data show that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, located on the coast of Southern California, the busiest container port complex in the United States, handled only 566522 imported containers (in 20-foot equivalent units) in November, a sharp drop of 26% from the same period last year.
Container throughput at both ports hit its lowest level since March 2020 in November,
And the reason why throughput was so low at the time was clearly known: the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic led to a disruption in global trade.
The data shows that,The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach also handled about 98000 fewer inbound containers last month compared to the same period before the outbreak-November 2019.
As for the reason for the sharp drop in container imports, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said,
Some importers had already prepared their goods earlier this year to avoid a repeat of last year's commodity shortage.
In addition, some importers are now moving their cargo to ports on the U.S. Gulf Coast and East Coast,
Because West Coast dockworkers are negotiating a new long-term labor agreement, importers are worried that port operations will slow down.
However, even if these reasons exist, Seroka also admitted that "now we are seeing a slowdown in imports across the United States."
According to data from Descartes Datamyne, a data analysis company of Descartes Logistics Systems Group, a supply chain software company, imports at U.S. ports fell by as much as 12% from October to November, the largest since 2016.
The total number of imported containers last month was only 1.95 million, down 19.4 percent from the same period last year and the lowest monthly import volume since June 2020.
In fact, while many importers have deliberately bypassed the crowded Southern California ports in the past few months,
East coast ports were once relatively busy with trade, but last month's overall import downturn has also affected east coast ports.
In November, the number of imported containers at the Port of Savannah, Georgia, fell 7.6 percent from a year earlier, and the number of imported containers at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, fell 21.8 percent from a year earlier.
For a long time, consumption has been the most critical carriage driving the US economy. Therefore, when observing whether the US economy will fall into recession, freight volume can often be regarded as a key barometer.
And as major U.S. retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart and Target have cut orders in the past few months, the decline in U.S. imports has become more pronounced.
These retailer executives have generally said on recent earnings calls that consumers are reining in spending on big-ticket items like furniture and electronics because of rising interest rates and inflation.
This scene is also supported by the US retail sales data released last night.
U.S. retail sales fell sharply in November as consumers spent significantly less on electronics and clothing, Commerce Department figures showed.
Seasonally adjusted, sales at U.S. retail stores, online sellers and restaurants fell 0.6 percent in November from a year earlier.
This is a sharp slowdown from the strong sales growth of 1.3 per cent in October.
While rising wages and new pandemic savings are still supporting buying activity, Americans are clearly beginning to feel the pinch-savings rates are near record lows and credit card usage has surged.
All of this may mean that the boom in U.S. ports and shipping markets in the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022, when U.S. ports were crowded with imported containers, is gone,
As retailers try to keep up with frenzied consumer demand and replenish their nearly depleted inventory.
Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates (Hackett Associates) and author of the Global Port Tracking Report released by the American Retail Federation, predicts that,
Cargo traffic at the port is likely to decline over the next six months to levels "not seen in some time".
It is worth mentioning that as importers and manufacturers try to get their goods in time for the Chinese New Year Asian factory shutdown,
In previous years, U.S. imports usually get a boost towards the end of the year, but people still don't seem to see this change.
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