Holiday Inventory Plentiful, but Ports Crisis Persists: NRF

Imports through congested U.S. retail ports are expected to remain at near-record levels for the rest of the year, “as retailers rush to move merchandise from docks to shelves in time to meet the expectations of holiday shoppers,” reported the National Retail Federation Monday. U.S. ports handled 2.14 million 20-foot cargo containers or their equivalents in September, down 5.9% from August but up 1.4% year over year, said NRF. It’s projecting October imports will be down 1.2%, the first year-over-year decline since July 2020. Even with the decline, October “would be among the five busiest months on record since NRF began tracking imports in 2002,” it said. “Busy cargo is expected to continue through the end of the year,” rising 3.3% in November and 3.5% in December, it said. “Dockworkers are unloading ships as fast as they can, but the challenge is to move the containers out of the ports to make room for the next ship,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “Retailers have enough inventory on hand to make sure shoppers won’t go home empty-handed this holiday season. But there are still items sitting on the docks or waiting on ships that need to make it to store shelves and online sellers’ warehouses.”