ATLANTA, Georgia, June 7, 2023 – Descartes Systems Group (Nasdaq: DSGX) (TSX:DSG), the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, released its June Global Shipping Report for logistics and supply chain professionals. In May 2023, U.S. container import volumes increased over April 2023 due to a rise in imports from China and Vietnam; May volumes also kept pace with pre-pandemic 2019 volumes. Port transit times increased, returning to early 2023 levels. The West Coast labor situation appears to be turning sour as recent job actions begin to impact container processing. The June update of the logistics metrics Descartes is tracking shows continued consistency with pre-pandemic import volume seasonality and signs that key challenges to global supply chain performance in 2023, such as West Coast labor relations and port transit time delays, are still not sorted out.
May 2023 U.S. container import volumes increased 3.8% from April 2023 to 2,097,313 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) (see Figure 1). Versus May 2022, TEU volume was down 20.0%, but up 0.5% from pre-pandemic May 2019. As with the first four months of 2023, the growth in import volume in May continued to track to 2019 volumes with a difference of 1.3% for the same period in each year.
Figure 1. U.S. Container Import Volume Year-over-Year Comparison
Source: Descartes Datamyne™
“U.S. container import volumes continue to climb and track very closely to 2019 levels with support from China, Vietnam and other South and Southeast Asian countries,” said Chris Jones, EVP Industry Descartes. “Rising port transit time delays (see Figure 2) and job actions by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) point to increased global supply chain disruption and further delays in the normalization of freight volumes on the West Coast.”
Figure 2: Monthly Average Transit Delays (in days) for the Top 10 Ports
Source: Descartes Datamyne™
Note: Descartes’ definition of port transit delay is the difference as measured in days between the Estimated Arrival Date, which is initially declared on the bill of lading, and the date when Descartes receives the CBP-processed bill of lading.
The June report is Descartes’ twenty-second installment since beginning its analysis in August 2021. To read past reports, learn more about the key economic and logistics factors driving the global shipping crisis, and review strategies to help address it in the near-, short- and long-term, visit Descartes’ Global Shipping Resource Center.
About Descartes
Descartes (Nasdaq:DSGX) (TSX:DSG) is the global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, security and sustainability of logistics-intensive businesses. Customers use our modular, software-as-a-service solutions to route, track and help improve the safety, performance and compliance of delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world's largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community. Our headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and we have offices and partners around the world. Learn more at www.descartes.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Global Media Contact
Cara Strohack
Tel: +1(800) 419-8495 ext. 202025
cstrohack@descartes.com
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