Panjiva reports a strong Q1 for U.S.-bound waterborne shipments

Following a sluggish start to 2015, United States-bound waterborne shipments are starting to pick up the pace, according to data issued this week by Panjiva, an online search engine with detailed information on global suppliers and manufacturers.

March shipments came in at 988,065, which easily eclipsed February by 24 percent, as well as March 2014 by 19 percent. Panjiva said total first quarter shipments at 2,580,899 were 4 percent ahead of the first quarter of 2014.

After a relatively quiet January, February activity was promising, growing 5 percent month-over-month, which Panjiva said marked the first time there was an uptick from January to February since the company initially began tracking this data in 2007. Panjiva said that a major driver for the sequential uptick was the tentative contract agreement at West Coast ports between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, with the backlog starting to clear in late February and into March.

Panjiva CEO Josh Green said in an interview that March ended the first quarter on a high note.

“That was a nice way to finish, as January had me worried and February was surprisingly strong, while March was fantastic,” he explained. “The story in the first quarter was the resolution of the West Coast port troubles and also putting Chinese New Year behind us, which really enabled March to be very strong.”

Green said the key number to look at in this data is the change relative to the first quarter annually with a 4 percent increase, as it is important to keep in mind that month-to-month changes can be “lumpy”.

The annual quarterly increase, he noted, shows global trade is still very much on a growth path, with 2014 strong overall despite West Coast port issues, with the growth path on track so far in 2015.

But there are still wildcards that cam affect global trade activity, too, including jobs numbers, which were weaker than expected in March and could signal softness in consumer willingness to spend, with sourcing executives expected to pay attention to those numbers in regards how they will approach 2015 purchasing activity.