News / US container imports decline after front-loading slows

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Last month became the second October in the past decade to record a month-on-month decline in US container imports.

But, according to Descartes data, China-origin goods showed surprising resilience.  

A recent report from the Canadian logistics company, container imports totalled 2,306,687 teu in October, down 0.1% on the month before. 

Further, this total was 7.5% down year on year and below the 2.4m–2.6m teu average that “typically marks peak trade activity”, observed Descartes.  

It added: “The year-to-date growth margin has steadily narrowed throughout the year, from nearly 10% in January to less than 1% in October, suggesting that suspected front-loading earlier in the year, softer economic conditions, and slower consumer demand has steadily slowed momentum.”

However, surprisingly, imports from China in October were up 5.4% on September, after two months of decline, but the 803,901 teu total is still 16.3% below the same month last year, pre-trade war escalation.  

Most major verticals from China posted double-digit declines year on year, only plastics bucking the trend  to rise 5.8%. Furniture and bedding imports were down 13.6%, toys and sporting goods down 30.4%, electrical machinery and machinery down 17.2% and 14% respectively, and apparel categories “weakened sharply”, with knitted apparel down 27.3% and other apparel down 22.6%. 

Indeed, Freightos said in an update today that “overcapacity is undoing November’s transpacific GRIs”. The benchmarking platform’s data showed US west coast spot rates fell 32% last week, and east coast rates slid 8%. 

Descartes’ October US import data also noted a 19% month-on-month fall in goods from India, a drop of 22,530 teu, and year on year the drop was 18.5%.  

One US importer of Indian goods told The Loadstar: “Volume growth is very much tied to the US tariff issue. If/when the 50% tariffs drops to 25% (or less), then there would indeed be a volume surge. 

“There is certainly the possibility of the combined 50% tariffs coming down to 20%-30%, but no one knows for certain. The signals are positive, as India has increased its procurement of US LNG, but time will tell,” they added. 

Regardless, Freightos suggested that any front‑loaded inventory US importers hold should run down, “and set up a 2026 restocking cycle”, meaning US freight demand next year “could beat some conservative forecasts”. 

NOTE: Maritime consultant John McCown has previously highlighted discrepancies within Descartes data and noted that it was “unclear” what process the Canadian company used to obtain information prior to official port or customs releasing their container volume counts.  

Descartes said its report was based on the initial compiled release of publicly available US CBP bill of lading data for all US ports, but noted this could be subject to modification later by CBP.