US container import volumes jumped 11.5 per cent in May from a year earlier, after shipments from China rebounded following several months of softness, supply chain technology provider Descartes Systems Group said on Tuesday.
The increase was fuelled by retailers and manufacturers rushing to bring in goods ahead of a new round of proposed US tariffs and worries the US-Israeli war with Iran could lead to higher energy prices as well as shortages of goods and raw materials derived from crude oil, analysts and shippers said.
US seaports last month handled 2,428,758 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), the standard measure for container volume.
Chinese-origin imports accounted for 816,197 TEU, up 28.1 per cent from May 2025, led by plastics, furniture and bedding.
China's share of total US containerised imports was 33.6 per cent in May, up from 29.9 per cent in April.
For the first five months of the year, volumes are down 1.9 per cent compared with the same period in 2025.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Sonali Paul)
