US Port Congestion Increasingly Hindering Exports, FMC Analysts Say
The trade imbalance at U.S. ports has widened in recent months, as heavy congestion from record imports has continued to cause issues for U.S. exporters, the Federal Maritime Commission’s Bureau of Trade Analysis said this week. As U.S. consumer demand picks up for the holidays, the BTA suggested exporters are seeing more delays and less opportunities to ship their goods.
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“I think that has a lot to do with port congestion,” Kristen Monaco, director of the BTA, said during a Nov. 16 FMC meeting. “We've seen in major ports the number of exports drop off remarkably in the last couple of months.” Monaco said the trend may only stop if U.S. consumers stop buying as many goods, which isn’t likely anytime soon. Grace Wang, the FMC’s economic studies director, said imports have consistently grown across all U.S. coasts in recent months, while export volume has “declined at all U.S. coasts” except the East Coast.
FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said “it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that imports are crowding out exports, to some extent.” Exporters have complained for months about carriers continuing to send empty containers back overseas rather than filling them with exports because the carriers can charge higher rates for imports (see 2104280031). Wang said BTA does “have some concern about the turnaround times and the availability of containers for exporters.”
“It’s a little bit difficult to sort of figure out how we've got such a buildup of empty containers, and yet at the same time, we're seeing, if anything, fewer containers of exports going. And yet everyone's testifying that the ships are full,” Maffei said. “Obviously, this is an area where we need to look closely.”