Dive Brief:
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High inventories at retailers are weighing on import volumes at U.S. ports, according to Global Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates LLC.
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As of November, imports at American ports fell below 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units, and will remain below the standard volume of 1.68 million, staying in a range of 1.41 million to 1.48 million containers, according to the report.
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Even that muted rate will top the slowdowns faced by U.S. West Coast ports during the massive slowdown that occurred during protracted labor negotiations in 2014. For example, port imports last year were 5.4% higher than in 2014, the report said.
Dive Insight:
High inventories were an issue during the holidays this past season, and will continue to be so into 2016. The ratio of inventories to sales were 1.48 in October, the last month for which figures were available, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the highest since June 2009.
That will continue to vex retailers as they make plans for spring.
Warm winter weather has taken a toll especially on sales of cold-weather apparel and gear. Retailers will likely be forced to continue offering low prices—and therefore losses—on winter gear and other items as inventories stay high. So far losses have topped $500 million, according to weather-planning firm Planalytics.
Retailers will “be practically giving it away, but they'll clear it," Planalytics president Scott Bernhardt told CNBC of high inventories of winter gear. "The level of markdown that you're going to see … we haven't seen that in a very long time.”
