U.S. import container volumes fell for a second month in June, down 7.9% year-over-year, according to Bloomberg. They write:
The number of shipping containers carrying US imports fell for a second straight month, a private gauge showed, putting the economic indicator on course for one of the sharpest year-on-year reversals on record as President Donald Trump’s tariffs disrupt purchases of goods from abroad.
Inbound container volume fell 7.9% in June from a year before, after a 6.6% drop in May, veteran industry analyst John McCown wrote in a monthly report Sunday based on the 10 largest US ports. The declines more than wiped out a nearly 10% increase tied to inventory front-loading in April, and left the second quarter down 1.8% from a year earlier. […]
He estimated that a 25% reduction in US container volumes is “readily possible” and would translate “directly into a $510 billion reduction in annual commerce for the US.” The total value of goods in containers moving through US ports last year was $2.2 trillion, according to McCown’s data.
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