U.S. Containerized Import Trade Stops Four Month Back Slide

Zepol Corp., Minneapolis, Minn., USA, this week reported that the U.S. containerized import shipment volume for January, measured in TEUs, increased 8.86% from December and 17.64% over January 2010. The total number of shipments also increased 7.69% from December and 17.62% over last January. Key Statistics from this Month's Update include:

After a four month slide, January showed a significant increase from December, but volumes are in line with November of 2010. Much of this increase was driven by Asian origin shipments as they rose 11.3% in preparation for the lunar New Year.
Ports on the Atlantic Coast show the greatest increases in volumes for January 2011 over January 2010 with an increase of 19.15% compared with the Pacific Coast of 16.80% and the Gulf Coast of 10.68%. This could be an expanding trend as shipments return to 2007/2008 totals and the same capacity issues affect Southern California.
Maersk Line ranks as the top Carrier in Zepol's data, but MSC and APL both show better growth over January 2010 with a change of 4.13% compared with 31.13% and 22.55% respectively.

TAPPI
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