Zepol completed the data for February on March 6th in our U.S. Customs trade data tool,
TradeIQ. In a pattern similar to last month, imports saw a 8.45% decrease from December and a slightly smaller 2.14% decrease from January. However, when looking at the year trend, February 2010 saw a 20.80% increase in shipments from February 2009.
Below is a table showing port regions of the world where shipments originated:
| Port Region |
Feb 2010
Shipments |
Percent Change
over Feb 2009 |
Percent Change
over Jan 2010 |
Percent Change
over Dec 2009 |
| Asia |
485,560 |
31.89% |
-2.76% |
-5.49% |
| Europe |
86,217 |
-6.05% |
2.02% |
-20.37% |
| Central America (includes Mexico) |
52,046 |
5.28% |
3.59% |
-8.90% |
| South America |
19,433 |
-4.92% |
-4.27% |
-4.82% |
| North America |
7,981 |
10.85% |
-7.55% |
-18.84% |
| Other |
7,255 |
10.33% |
-2.28% |
-17.29% |
| Australia |
4,720 |
-10.06% |
-26.46% |
-23.33% |
| Africa |
2,928 |
12.79% |
-23.63% |
-10.05% |
| Total |
666,140 |
20.80% |
-2.14% |
-8.45% |
An almost 21.00% increase from a year ago seems like a good indication that trade is now out of troubled waters. However, keep in mind that February of 2009 was one of the worst months of the recession thus far and historically, February is one of the slowest months of the year for trade. The tables illustrate a glaring reminder that trade changes quickly as we can see that trade with Asia has increased by 31.89% over February 2009, clearly showing that Asia has been recovering more quickly than Europe from this recession. Los Angeles also saw steady growth and maintained its top position as the U.S.'s most active port, while the Port of Long Beach is continuing to make strides with a 49.02% increase since February of 2009. The Port of Seattle has also grown quickly, increasing its total shipments by 78.95% over the same period, although a portion of this growth can be explained by how U.S. Customs collects data in their AMS system.
Below are the top 10 U.S. Ports by shipment count:
| Port |
Feb 2010
Shipments |
Percent Change
over Feb 2009 |
Percent Change
over Jan 2010 |
Percent Change
over Dec 2009 |
| Los Angeles, CA |
139,431 |
30.90% |
-4.67% |
-5.89% |
| Long Beach, CA |
109,899 |
49.02% |
-1.50% |
-8.38% |
| Newark, NJ |
56,571 |
-2.85% |
-0.81% |
-9.09% |
| New York, NY |
58,573 |
16.93% |
-9.86% |
-11.93% |
| Seattle, WA |
57,054 |
78.98% |
-3.51% |
-1.31% |
| Savannah, GA |
33,618 |
21.44% |
-2.34% |
-0.88% |
| Oakland, CA |
24,602 |
33.28% |
-4.62% |
-21.04% |
| Tacoma, WA |
25,780 |
-0.24% |
1.98% |
-8.13% |
| Norfolk, VA |
25,659 |
10.14% |
16.23% |
-2.88% |
| Charleston, SC |
21,379 |
-11.74% |
-0.92% |
-6.86% |
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, it does include shipments from empty containers, may overstate totals from transshipments, and include other data anomalies.
Zepol's
U.S. Customs trade data is taken from Bills of Lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. The 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.