That shows a new report by Descartes Datamyne Incoming US container volume fell almost to pre-pandemic levels in December as forecasts point to deeper declines in the coming months. The Wall Street Journal reports that total US container imports fell 2.8% in 2022, halting two consecutive years of growth with declines in the second half of the year.
Case volumes in December were 19.3% behind container imports in the same month last year, Descartes Datamyne said, and 1.3% higher than in December 2019, just before the pandemic helped crash world trade.
Ocean shipping rates are also declining to pre-pandemic levels, although multiple measures show price falls flattening earlier in the year. Still, the Global Port Tracker is forecasting a sharp drop in US crate imports in the coming months, so prices could fall even further if shipping capacity doesn’t keep up.
