Household cargo shatters records at ports
Volumes of stuff create more traffic at NY, NJ ports
The stacks of cargo containers can tell a lot about how people spent their year at home during the pandemic.
There were living room sets from Bob’s Discount Furniture for families busy redecorating; kitchen appliances for new homebuyers; espresso machines for coffee lovers who became their own baristas; and cases of sparkling wines from France, Spain and Italy for those who could afford to indulge.
The extraordinary surge of household cargo has shattered records at the Port of New York and New Jersey, a sprawling network of docks, terminals and open storage areas that span a half-dozen sites. It moved 755,437 standard cargo containers in October alone — the busiest month in the history of the port, which has handled cargo containers since the 1960s.
“Never before have we had anything like that,” said Bethann Rooney, the deputy director of port operations. “The cargo was coming fast and furious into the country.”
The port, which is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bistate municipal agency, is the largest on the East Coast and the third-largest in the nation.
Its cargo volumes were up to 23% higher each month from August through December 2020, compared with the same months in 2019.
And the stuff just keeps coming. There was no post-holiday lull this winter as cargo volume in January rose 17% compared with the previous year. In February, it was up 7%, a new
high for that month.
When the pandemic set off buying sprees among U.S. consumers, it helped bring chaos to global shipping and created logistical challenges for freight moving between continents in colorful metal boxes that are stacked up like pieces in a Tetris game.
A shortage of cargo containers resulted in widespread delays, and at some U.S. ports — including Los Angeles, where the virus slowed operations by sickening workers and truck drivers, or forcing them to quarantine — the influx of goods has created backlogs.
But the shipping boom has turned out to be a bright spot for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Though monthly cargo volumes initially dropped at the height of the pandemic as factories and stores shut down, they started picking up in
August as shoppers opened their wallets and manufacturers and retailers scrambled to restock their shelves and get ahead of any future shutdowns.
Still, the soaring cargo volumes have created more traffic and congestion at the port, and stretched equipment and supplies. The port is the gateway for freight headed across the Northeast as well as parts of the Midwest and Canada.
“We’re operating right now at the breaking point,” Rooney said. “This is going to be our normal at least for the first half of the year, and that’s as far as anyone is willing to predict at this point.”
Even so, the increased port revenue has not been enough to offset the agency’s far larger financial losses from steep drops in passenger volumes at the airports and fewer cars and trucks at the bridges and
tunnels. The Port Authority has projected that it will lose $3 billion in revenue from March 2020 to March 2022.
The port has avoided the backlogs experienced at other ports, Rooney said, because officials took steps early in the pandemic to make sure the port did not run out of room.
Many businesses bringing in imports during the pandemic had nowhere to put them because their warehouses were full and the port does not have its own warehouses.
So the port dispatched scouts to find more than 70 off-site warehouses and parking lots in New Jersey and Connecticut that could be used for storage, and officials helped connect businesses with those sites. As a result, the port was able to keep its docks clear rather than clogged with cargo.
Across New York and
New Jersey, the top category of shipping imports during the pandemic was beverages, spirits and vinegar. Total volume rose more than 9% in the second half of 2020 compared with the same period the year before, according to Mabel Ng, a product management director for IHS Markit, a company that tracks shipping through its Global Trade Atlas database.
Shipments of wine, vermouth, hard cider and mead, and cordials and liqueurs all rose significantly as people became home bartenders. Nonalcoholic beverages such as flavored bottled waters and milk-based drinks were also in higher demand.
Imports of furniture, bedding, cushions and lamps soared nearly 35% in the second half of 2020, compared with the same period a year earlier, reflecting a boom in home decorating. The increases included wooden furniture used in kitchens and bedrooms, metal-frame seats, mattresses and supports, and desk, table and floor lamps.
As people spent much more time cooking, baking and eating at home, the roughly 117,000 tons of plastic table and kitchen wares shipped to the port in the second half of last year represented a 12.5% jump from the same period the year before.
For Jeannie Kim, 31, it was a good time to upgrade to a Nespresso coffee machine, which uses capsules. “Before it wasn’t really a priority because I would mix it up with coffee shops,” she said. “In quarantine, I’m working at home so I felt justified to invest in a better machine because it’s my sole source of coffee now.”
For others, the pandemic has been a chance to reimagine their homes. Bob’s Discount Furniture, a national chain of 140 stores, has never been busier with the biggest demand for living room sets, including sofas and sectionals, followed by bedroom sets.
“With the increased time at home, people are craving comfort,” said Carol Glaser, the company’s chief merchandising officer. “Furniture is the comfort food of the home.”
Kitchen and laundry room makeovers, as well as a surge in home sales as more city dwellers moved to the suburbs, have also helped fuel a “double-digit increase” in LG’s sales of refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, washing machines and dryers shipped from factories in Asia, according to John I. Taylor, a senior vice president at LG Electronics USA.
“We’ve never seen this level of demand in the industry and our factories are working overtime,” Taylor said.