When asked the question above, the majority of people immediately think of China. Rightfully so, as the U.S. imports about 45% of total containerized imports from China, and this number has remained flat for the past five years. What may come as a surprise, however, are all of the other top countries that supply goods to the United States. Germany, for example, is the fourth country on our list for inbound TEUs and accounts for about 3% of all U.S. imports.

See the top 20 countries of origin for U.S. vessel imports in Zepol's list below:

 

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan have shown the effect that one country can have on international commerce. The global shipping industry has certainly felt a significant impact due to the damages done to many of the Japanese shipping ports.

According to Zepol’s TradeIQ™ application, Japan had 325,226 shipments that entered U.S. ports in 2010, accounting for roughly 3.5% of all ocean borne shipments entering the United States for that year. The Port of Sendai, which shipped almost 16,000 TEUs to the U.S. in 2010 (over 2% of the total TEUs brought from Japan to the U.S), was just one of the ports that was greatly devastated by these natural disasters. Imports and exports from Sendai have come to a halt, and only on March 18 was the port opened for the delivery of relief supplies. It is predicted that the recovery process for many of the damaged ports will take weeks, if not months.

Because Japan is a world leader in the production and distribution of electronic components, machinery, and automobiles, the damage done to its ports will undoubtedly have a worldwide effect. To help in the recovery of the Japanese infrastructure, please consider contributing to the American Red Cross by clicking the link below: