59% of containers left the nine largest US ports during the first ten months of 2021, according to information compiled by MarketWatch.
More specifically, the containers leaving the American ports transporting domestic products decreased by 10.7% compared to their number before the pandemic. According to data, 12.1 million containers had left these ports, by October, empty. Their number has increased by 46.2% since 2020 and 37.8% since 2019.
According to the information, from 9.3 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) in the first ten months of 2019, exports decreased to 8.3 million TEU in the same period of 2021. On the other hand, US imports increased by 22% from last year and they amount to 20.6 million TEU.
US ports congestion, cancellations of last-minute export bookings and the increased shipping freight rates from Asia to the US- due to demand for imported goods from the US consumers- exacerbate this trade imbalance.
