Uncertainty Up ‘Exponentially’ With COVID-19's Impact on Imports, NRF Says

The COVID-19 outbreak will have “a longer and larger impact” on imports at major U.S. retail container ports than previously thought, the National Retail Federation said March 9. “Factory shutdowns and travel restrictions in China continue to affect production,” it said. Though plants continue to come back online, “there are still issues affecting cargo movement, including the availability of truck drivers to move cargo to Chinese ports,” it said. “Uncertainty has expanded exponentially.” NRF canvassed its membership and found 40% are seeing disruptions to their supply chains, and another 26% “expect to see disruptions as the situation continues,” it said. U.S. retail ports handled 1.82 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in January, up 5.7% from December, but down 3.8% from January 2019, when the Section 301 tariffs spurred “unusually high numbers” of imports, NRF said. It estimates February port activity will be 12.6% lower than a year earlier and is forecasting an 18.3% decline in year-over-year March volume.