April imports have skyrocketed by 22.7% from March and are slightly above April of 2012 by 1.3%. Imports haven't been this high in the month of April since 2007 and there hasn't been this dramatic of an increase month-to-month in over a year.

“So far this year, U.S. imports are about 1% higher than last year and over 4% higher than 2011,” states Zepol’s CEO Paul Rasmussen, “Although 2013 is still 5% below 2007, the highest year recorded for ocean imports, 2013 could still turn out to have the highest import volume the United States has seen in the last five years.”

You can read more about April's imports in our Press Release Here.

 
Methodology:
Zepol’s data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). 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 (FROB), and may contain other data anomalies.       

 Back by popular demand, Zepol's lastest report highlights trade activity for the top 20 U.S. ports. The annual report provides detailed import information for each port and compares trends to the previous year as well as sheds light upon potential future developments.

Four Key Insights Found in the Report:

1. The top port in the U.S. by a landslide, the Port of Los Angeles, surpassed all other ports by over 1 million TEUs (twenty-foot-containers) and over 500,000 shipments.
   
2. Based on TEU volume, 11 of the top 20 ports posted positive import growth from 2011 to 2012.
3. The Port of Tacoma saw the greatest growth in 2012, with a 29% increase in inbound TEUs from 2011. 
4. The top 20 ports account for 97% of all TEU imports into the United States.

"Zepol’s latest Port Report provides insights for transportation companies, importers and exporters, steamship lines, and suppliers," says Zepol’s CEO Paul Rasmussen. "More recently, trade professionals have a growing need to know what’s happening at the ports and this report gives great detail on last year's port activity from a performance standpoint and a good picture of the movement of goods in the United States in 2012."

Zepol welcomes this guest blog entry from Transport Intelligence, a market intelligence firm for the transport and logistics industry.

Airfreight providers have felt the stinging effects of high fuel costs, freight shift towards ocean carriers and a sluggish global economy for some time now. If that was not enough, many shippers that have continued to use airfreight have moved from the premium service offerings to the deferred, economical services. As a result of these effects, airfreight providers have experienced several unprofitable quarters.

FedEx, for example recently announced the company found itself carrying too many lower priced packages on expensive aircraft. As a result, FedEx is in the midst of correcting its global and domestic network. For lower-priced packages, FedEx is utilizing its freight forwarding arm, FedEx Trade Networks, to move such products to the bellies of passenger airplanes while a focus on its International Priority service is emphasized to fill FedEx Express airplanes.

Europe’s largest all-cargo provider, Lufthansa Cargo, knows all too well what FedEx is going through. It too has undergone a reduction in capacity as it corrected its network. According to the head of the company, Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Lufthansa Cargo lost some market share as it began to focus on more profitable freight such as perishable goods and the healthcare industry.

Zepol's data sheds light upon this new shift in the industry and points towards many more airfreight providers flying in the same direction. The price per kilogram of products imported by air has increased for the past two consecutive years, and so far for 2013, the trend is continuing. The graph below illustrates this increase.

U.S. imports for January increased fairly significantly from December by 6.9% and even had a slight rise from January of 2012 by 0.1%. Surprisingly, January imports have not been this high since 2007, which signals some steady rebounding growth for 2013.

The increase in imports mainly came from Asia, which rose in TEUs by 11.5%. Large export increases were seen more specifically from the countries of China and South Korea, which both rose almost 13%. You can read more about January's imports in our Press Release Here.

  Methodology:
Zepol’s data is derived from Bills of Lading entered into U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). 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 (FROB), and may contain other data anomalies.