By SCBIZ Staff

Traffic at the nation’s major retail container ports, including Charleston, is forecast to hit an all-time record by July, the National Retail Federation has reported.

The NRF recently released its monthly “Port Tracker” report, compiled in combination with Global Insight, a forecaster of global market conditions.

Monthly container volumes are expected to increase each month through the summer, said Global Insight economist Paul Bingham. Each month is expected to reach record volume, he said.

Despite the volume, U.S. ports are operating without congestion and with adequate truck and rail capacity to handle incoming cargo, the report said.

Nationwide, the ports surveyed handled 1.28 million 20-foot equivalent units of container traffic in February, the most recent month for which numbers are available. Volume is forecast for 1.55 million TEUs by July and 1.59 million TEUs by August.

U.S. ports covered by Port Tracker include New York/New Jersey; Hampton Roads, Va.; Charleston; and Savannah, Ga., on the East Coast; Houston on the Gulf Coast; and Los Angeles/Long Beach, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Seattle on the West Coast.