According to Zepol's U.S. Customs trade data tool,
TradeIQ™, total inbound shipments for April 2012 are up 9.8% from March and 8.7% from April of last year. This is the second consecutive month with high import increases and, by looking at previous years' trends, we could potentially see even greater import volume throughout the summer.
The table below shows trends in port regions of the world where shipments originated:
| Port Region |
April 2012
Shipments
|
Percent Change
over March 2012
|
Percent Change
over April 2011
|
| Asia |
528,157
|
15.55%
|
9.18%
|
| Europe |
109,290
|
-2.50%
|
10.83%
|
| Other |
37,003
|
5.18%
|
17.08%
|
| Central America
|
29,726
|
-4.77%
|
2.14%
|
South America
|
26,199
|
-6.16%
|
-2.91%
|
Middle East
|
9,635
|
1.42%
|
-5.94%
|
| Australia, New Zealand and Oceania |
8,880
|
1.20%
|
4.56%
|
North America
|
4,383
|
2.10%
|
2.24%
|
Africa
|
3,384
|
3.61%
|
2.14%
|
| Total |
756,657
|
9.77%
|
8.65%
|
Below is the trend of the last 13 months showing total TEU volume and shipments as seen in Zepol's monthly vessel import
press release:
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.