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Zepol Corporation, the leading trade intelligence company, reports that U.S. import shipment volume for September, measured in TEUs, is down 3.6% from August, but is up from September of 2011 by 2.6%. Imports of TEUs shifted from over 1.6 million last month to 1.55 million in September. The downward trend of the last two months of Q3 indicates that the peak month for U.S. imports in 2012 will most likely be July. For the past three years the month of August has seen the highest vessel imports, but this year the surge in goods for the holiday season seems to have come even earlier in Q3.