U.S. Container Imports Close Strong End of 2024

Continuing a trend of higher year-on-year volumes throughout 2024, December 2024 U.S. container import volumes closed at 2,367,271 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), just shy of the 2.4 million TEU threshold that has typically strained port capacity, according to the January Global Shipping Report released by Descartes Systems Group.

“Throughout 2024, we saw healthy container import volumes, which underscored the strength of the U.S. economy,” says Jackson Wood, director, industry strategy at Descartes. “December import volumes did not meaningfully reflect much impact from potential tariffs and labor unrest. We saw another month of exceptional import volume performance in December while port transit time delays remained relatively stable.”

Descartes Systems Group

Key takeaways:

• Despite elevated volumes, overall transit delays decreased across the Top 10 U.S. ports. Following two months of volume declines, December imports from China were up by 1.7% to 902,519 TEUs and by 14.5% over December 2023, highlighting the continued strength of U.S.-China trade. The January update of the logistics metrics continues to show robust container import volume performance; however, U.S. importers may face supply chain challenges in early 2025, including potential tariff changes under the incoming Trump administration, ongoing negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the Chinese Lunar New Year, and geopolitical instability in the Middle East. 
• With a slight 0.1% dip from November, December volumes reached 2,367,271 TEUs, marking the third time in history when imports for the month have exceeded 2.3 million TEUs. It also marks the second-highest December volume recorded, trailing only December 2021 volumes (2,389,060 TEUs) by 0.9% or 21,789 TEUs.