According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates this should take in the seasonal variations which wind down toward the end of the year.
While October has long been the busiest month of the year as retailers rush to fill shelves with merchandise for the holiday season, the peak shifted to August this year.
The change came both because of a backlog in cargo from earlier in the year after ocean carriers were slow to replace vessels taken out of service during the recession, and because retailers brought merchandise into the country early to avoid the risk of delays.
