Supply Chain Research

Container handling through U.S. ports climbed 14% on a year earlier in February, in part due to the seasonal effect of lunar new year timings. Even allowing for that, quarterly growth of 9% was the best since May 2015. That underlying expansion is a symptom of strong economic growth, and similarly a key risk to port activity is President Trump’s plans for increasing import duties. The Northwest Seaport Alliance (Seattle/Tacoma) has been especially critical, which is unsurprising given traffic growth of 10% was only the third improvement in the past 12 months. It nevertheless underperform...