Despite the escalating US/China trade war, the ten biggest US container ports posted a surprisingly robust 2.7 per cent year-on-year import throughput growth in July, for a cumulative 1,865,645 TEU.
However, analyst John D McCown, of consultancy Blue Alpha Capital, still believes that the impact of tariffs on Chinese imports “will become dramatically more pronounced”. The better-than-expected July numbers, which support the upbeat view of the transpacific market by Maersk, were mainly driven by the increased trend for Asian shippers to route their cargo through US east and Gulf coast ports.
Container imports for US east and Gulf coast ports last month was up 5.6 per cent on July last year, reaching 862,313 TEU, with star performer Savannah recording 8.5 per cent growth.