On December 6th, we completed the data for November in our U.S. Customs trade data tool, TradeIQ. Total shipments in November rose slightly by 0.20% from October ending a two month dip, and grew 14.03% over the previous year. European origin shipments rose 12.15% over last month and 17.96% over the previous year continuing a strong trend as Asian origin shipments are not seeing the same growth, down 2.11% from October.

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

November 2010 marks the end of the holiday ocean import season and could mark a significant change in how retailers and carriers prepare for the end of the year in the future. Instead of shipments peaking in October or September, total imports, in terms of volume and shipments, reached its pinnacle in August. In the last two months, November and October, Asian origin shipments decreased while European imports rose. However, the total percentage of European shipments and volume hovers far below Asian imports.

 

The collection methods used by U.S. Customs for AMS data can lead to an overstatement of shipments for some ports, as imports and exports from Prince Rupert and Vancouver are often recorded as imports for the U.S. Moreover, the data includes shipments from empty containers, may overstate totals from transshipments, and may contain other data anomalies as well.

Zepol's U.S. Customs trade 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 indicator is the earliest data available for the previous month’s trade activity.