Traffic flowing smoothly despite increased import volumes, survey finds

Container import traffic is growing but congestion has yet to return to the nation's ports.

The National Retail Federation in a new monthly survey assessing dockside conditions said U.S. ports handled 1.23 million TEUs in June, up 11.2 percent from the same month in 2004.

But the NRF, which represents retailers with $4.1 trillion in annual sales, found that 75 percent of the nation's major ports showed low levels of congestion, with no serious congestion, delays or diversion of cargo anticipated. The remaining 25 percent had only medium congestion, which indicates a warning of potential congestion at the port, or connecting road and rail services.

There were no high levels of congestion found at any of the surveyed ports.

The group's monthly Port Tracker looks at inbound container volume; the availability of trucks and railroad cars to move cargo out of the ports; labor conditions and other factors that affect cargo movement.

Congestion at Los Angeles-Long Beach, Oakland , New York - New Jersey , Hampton Roads, Va. , Charleston and Savannah is low. Tacoma and Seattle , which received diverted cargo from California as well as from Vancouver , Canada , during a month-long strike by truckers, are dealing with medium congestion.

"It's a relief not to have merchandise piling up on the dock," NRF Vice President and International Trade Counsel Erik Autor said in a prepared statement. "We have more cargo coming in than last year, largely because of the end of textile and apparel quotas, but it's flowing much more smoothly from the ships to the stores than we saw in 2004. We're about to enter the peak of the shipping cycle for the holiday season, so this is good news."

The association expects to see significant increases in inbound container volumes in the next six months at Oakland , Seattle and Tacoma , and slow, flat growth in LA-Long Beach . Oakland , Seattle and Tacoma are seeing increases due to shifting operating patterns of carriers and expanded facilities. New York-New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah will experience increasing inbound container volume more strongly than West Coast ports because of increased use of all-water services from Asia through the Panama and Suez canals, driven in part by the development of distribution centers.

The report found that the average train speeds for most railroads were about the same as a year ago, but with significant growth in the number of intermodal cars available.

In LA-Long Beach , the new PierPass program has shifted more traffic than expected to night and weekend gates, lessening peak weekday traffic. Highway capacity the survey found, remains a problem in New York-New Jersey.