Container imports into the 10 largest US ports were up 23.4% year-on-year in December 2020, following increases of 25.1% in November and 18.1% in October. The last time this level of year-on-year gains in inbound containers was seen was more than 10 years ago, after the recovery from the financial crisis. It continues to be driven by increased imports from China.The December 2020 comparison benefited from a weak December 2019 that declined 12.5%. The catalyst of Q4 volume declines totalling 9.0% in 2020 was the impact of US tariffs on most loads imported from China. Then,as now, those tariffs are at 91% of their peak level.With the strong December rebound, 2020 closed out with a 2.3% gain, which would have been unthinkable at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in March. It was a reversal of the 0.9% overall decrease in 2019. The two clear catalysts that have impacted inbound volumes these last two years are the successive effects of the China tariffs and the pandemic.In the two proceeding years of 2017 and 2018, the average annual volume growth rate was 7%. That could be pegged as the underlying growth clip that may have continued in the absence of those negative catalysts - China tariffs and Covd-19 - given the continuing US economic strength. Framed that way, it is one method to measure their respective impacts.
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