The recent East Coast port strike has not slowed down the nation’s imports. The latest Global Port Tracker, from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, shows that imports will be elevated in October, despite the three-day shutdown.

“It was a huge relief for retailers, their customers and the nation’s economy that the strike was short-lived,” said NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said. “It will take the affected ports a couple of weeks to recover, but we can rest assured that all ports across the country will be working hard to meet demand, and no impact on the holiday shopping season is expected. 

Gold continued, “The strike wasn’t without impacts—retailers who brought cargo early or shifted delivery to the West Coast face added warehousing and transportation costs. But the priority now is for both parties to negotiate in good faith and reach a long-term contract before the short-term extension ends in mid-January. We don’t want to face a disruption like this all over again.”

Earlier this month, members of the International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike at East and Gulf Coast container ports after their contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance expired. The strike lasted just three days, and a short-term contract extension and wage increase were implemented until January 15, 2025. 

U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.34 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August, excluding the Ports of New York/New Jersey and Miami, which have yet to report final data. This data reflects an increase of 0.9 percent compared with July and 19.3 percent year over year. It is also the highest volume reported since May 2022. 

Global Port Tracker projects the month of September will hold steady at 2.29 million TEU, up 12.9 percent year over year. October is forecast to fall slightly to 2.12 million TEU, up 3.1 percent year over year. This figure is slightly higher than the 2.08 million TEU forecast for October a month ago, and the strike did not appear to affect national totals, according to the Global Port Tracker. 

“The surge in imports over the past few months has clearly been the result of contingency imports by wholesalers, retailers and industrial companies in anticipation of the East and Gulf Coast port strike rather than a sudden increase in demand,” Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett said. “We may see some short-term congestion on the West Coast but nothing significant, and East Coast delays should be limited.”

November TEUs are expected to fall to 1.91 million, up 0.9 percent year over year, and December is expected to drop slightly to 1.88 million TEU, up 0.2 percent year over year. 

According to the Global Port Tracker, this would bring 2024 to 24.9 million TEU, up 12.1 percent compared with 2023. Meanwhile, January 2025 is forecast to steadily climb to 1.98 million TEU, up 0.8 percent year over year. February 2025 is forecast to slip to 1.74 million TEU, down 11.2 percent because of fluctuations in the timing of Lunar New Year shutdowns at Asian factories.