The number of U.S. seaborne import shipments surged 13.0% higher year over year in April. That may be counter-intuitive given the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it’s due to a 343% surge in the number of smaller, less-than-container load (LCL) shipments coming from China. A rise in LCLs is likely due to increased direct-to-consumer e-commerce, also known as drop-shipping, as well as reduced manufacturing capacity in China for smaller manufacturers despite widespread reopenings of factories. Containerized shipments from China still only fell by 7.7% year ove...