On June 6th, we completed the data upload for May 2011 in our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ™. Total shipments in May increased 9.35% from April, and grew more than 9% from May of 2010. Year to date, total TEUs are up 7.9% this year over last year.

Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:

Below is the trend of the last thirteen months showing total TEU volume and shipments as seen in Zepol's monthly vessel import press releases: 

Methodology:

Zepol's data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne vessel goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.

On May 9th, we completed the data upload for April 2011 in our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ™. Total shipments in April increased by 7.25% from March, and grew nearly 6% over the previous year. Imports originating from Asia took a sharp upward turn when compared to March figures, while imports from Europe and South America dipped.

Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:

Below is the trend of the last thirteen months showing total TEU volume and shipments as seen in Zepol's monthly vessel import press releases: 

Methodology:

Zepol's data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne vessel goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.

In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, we often hear stories and ideas of how we can minimize our impact on the environment. We have learned to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but this weekend I came across a story on CNN about reusing an item that we at Zepol talk about everyday – shipping containers.

Podponics is a company that recycles containers and uses them to create ideal growing environments for vegetables. They have developed a solution that turns a 40-foot container into the equivalent of one and a half acres of land to grow six varieties of lettuce. Unlike conventional farmland, a “pod” from Podponics can be placed almost anywhere, potentially changing the supply chain for urban restaurants and supermarkets.

Aside from importing and exporting, now we can add growing environments to the list of shipping container uses. In the past, I have seen photos of containers used in home and commercial construction projects, and obviously containers make perfect storage units. I wonder what they will come up with next!

On April 11th, we completed the data upload for March 2011 in our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ™. Total shipments in March increased by 2.32% from February, and grew 1% over the previous year. Imports originating from Asia fell when compared to February figures, while imports from Europe, measured in shipments, increased a noteworthy 31.32%.

Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:

 

Below is the trend of the last thirteen months showing total TEU volume and shipments as seen in Zepol's monthly containerized import press releases: 

Methodology:

Zepol's data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of House manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.