According to preliminary figures from PIERS, US international containerized trade grew about 3.7% in 2011, a sharp slowdown from the double digit from the year before.

According to the figures from PIERS, a sister company of The Journal of Commerce, the improvement over 2010 was led by an estimated 5.8% YoY gain in export volume.

Containerized imports, measured in TEUs, grew only 2.2% in 2011 over the year before, and most of that growth came early in the year. Final figures through the third quarter showed import volume contracted 1.6% in the three months ending September 30th 2011, led by a 3.7% decline in imports from Asia.

For the full year, preliminary estimates from the PIERS numbers show US imports from Asia growing a scant 0.1%. The 3.7% gain in overall US international ocean container volume follows an 11.8% YoY increase in 2010. But that gain also followed a steep drop in 2009, including a 15.1 decline in import volume.

(Sourced from The Journal of Commerce)