The latest data from S&P Global Market Intelligence shows that U.S. supply chain activity slowed in April.
According to S&P Global, seaborne containerized freight imports into the U.S. rose by 8% year-over-year in April, after a 16% increase in March. That was largely due to a slowdown in consumer durable goods like home furnishings and household appliances, which saw a meager 2% increase in April.
S&P Global also points to a “mixture of physical, political and labor reasons,” with the looming threat of an East Coast port strike paired with ongoing disruptions in Red Sea shipping lanes. Diversions from East Coast ports leading to rising rail dwell times on the West Coast could trigger “imbalances in the logistics network” in the months to come as well.
“That can cause challenges for both cargo owners and logistics network operators and may lead to earlier-than-normal shipments to mitigate delivery risks,” S&P Global said.
Meanwhile, recent numbers from Freightos indicate that Red Sea disruptions have caused freight rates for ocean carriers to skyrocket since the start of May, rising by $1,000 per 40-foot-equivalent units. On May 6, Maersk warned that the risk zone in the Red Sea had expanded, predicting impacts to persist through most of the year.
