Monthly Musings – April 2025

Name: MyFreightWorld
Address: 7007 College Boulevard, Suite 150, Overland Park, KS, 66211, United States
Telephone: 8775499438

Uncategorized / April 24, 2025

U.S. Container Imports Reach 2.38M TEUs in March

Month-over-Month: Increased by 6.3%
Year-over-Year: : Rose by 11%, marking third highest record volume for the month.
Port Activity: Significant volume increases observed at Norfolk (+27.9%), Houston (+19.5%), and Philadelphia (+17.8%).
Port Dynamics: East and Gulf Coast ports surpassed West Coast ports in market share for the first time in nine months.
Transit Delays: Improved across all major ports, suggesting infrastructure and processing capacities are keeping pace with rising volumes.

Month-over-Month: Dropped 5.4 points from March’s 58.3, signaling a notable slowdown in logistics activity.
Inventory Levels: Declined sharply to 51.0, marking the most modest expansion recorded since the index’s inception.
Inventory Costs: Increased to 68.5, showing that despite slower inventory growth, holding costs remain elevated.
Warehousing Capacity: Jumped to 54.0, up 9.4 points, reflecting improved availability of storage space.
Warehousing Utilization: Fell to 58.4, suggesting reduced reliance on warehousing assets.
Transportation Utilization: Rose to 60.1, indicating a modest increase in freight movement.
Transportation Prices: Dropped to 44.1, the first contraction in 2024 and a sign of softening demand or expanded capacity.

Source | ISM.com

New Orders: Contracted to 45.2 (-3.4)
Production: Grew to 48.3 (-2.4)
Employment: Fell to 44.7 (-2.9)
Supplier Deliveries: Slowed to 53.5 (-1.0)
Inventories: Marginally contracted to 53.4 (+3.5)
Customers’ Inventories: Marginal growth to 46.8 (+0.1)
Prices Index: Rose sharply to 69.4 (+7.0)
Backlog of Orders: Contracted to 44.5 (-2.3)
New Export Orders: Grew to 49.6 (-1.8)
Imports: Increased to 50.1 (-2.5)

Month-over-Month: Decreased by 1.5%, following a 2.8% increase in February, signaling continued market volatility.
Year-over-Year: Fell by 1.0%, marking the thirteenth straight annual decline, though it was the second smallest drop in that series.
Quarterly Performance: Q1 tonnage was down 0.8% compared to Q4 2024 and 2.4% below Q1 2024.
Not Seasonally Adjusted Index: Rose to 114.4, up 4.7% from February, reflecting a pickup in actual freight volumes.

Shipments:
- Month-over-Month: Flat at 1.054, indicating no change from February.
- Year-over-Year: Declined by 5.3%, reflecting continued softness in freight volumes..
Expenditures:
- Month-over-Month: Increased by 2.8%, suggesting higher spending on freight services.
- Year-over-year: Decreased by 2.0%, narrowing the annual decline observed in previous months.
Inferred Freight Rates:
- Month-over-Month: Rose by 2.8%, indicating modest pricing gains despite stable shipment volumes.
- Year-over-year: Increased by 3.5%, suggesting a trend of rising freight rates.