Economics News

U.S. Stimulus, Consumer Spending Drives West Coast Imports to New Heights

The surge in U.S. container imports continued in April when West Coast loaded imports amounted to 1.10m TEU. Imports had never exceeded this level until August 2020, and developments in the past nine months mean that April imports are only the sixth highest on record. In the first four months of the year volumes are up by 40.3%, representing an increase of 1.2m TEU from the same period in 2020. Compared to 2019 volumes are still up by an impressive 22.8% (+793,500 TEU).Imports decreased in April compared to March when volumes were record high at 1.16m TEU.