News / US box ports report surprise growth in imports, despite tariffs

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Despite the escalating US/China trade war, the ten biggest US container ports posted a surprisingly robust 2.7% year-on-year import throughput growth in July, for a cumulative 1,865,645 teu.

However, analyst John D McCown, of consultancy Blue Alpha Capital, still believes that the impact of tariffs on Chinese imports “will become dramatically more pronounced”.

The better-than-expected July numbers, which support the upbeat view of the transpacific market by Maersk last week, were mainly driven by the increased trend for Asian shippers to route their ...