b'24American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comNotes to the AJOTs top(UNCERTAINTYare realizing that they may beimports in the long run? its continued from page 18) too invested in the trading rela- Iftariffscontinue, around the world make. tionship with the U.S., becausehard to imagine that imports importers and exportersb alancinga ct ofproximityandhistory,andinto the United States wont now the relationship with theirdecrease,Woodconcludes. charts for 2025 Because of the uncertainty,number one trading partner isTheUnitedStateswill Woodseesitasadifficultincrediblyvolatileanduncer- becomelessofanimport-Thisyearschartslikethoseofthepastthreebalancingact,andsometain going forward. driveneconomy.Thatwill decades have a story to tell. It is a tale about thecompaniesmayjustwaitUsing his native Canadatake years to change, but the US economy written in TEUsocean containers. itout,thinking,Doweasanexample,Woodposesexpectationthatthevolume reallywanttoplaywhack- ascenariowherethecoun- of U.S. imports will continue By George Lauriat, AJOT a-molewiththesetariffs,trycouldfocusonexpand- to rise, as weve seen over the or do we want to figure outingeconomicrelationshipslast several years, is a pretty AJOTsTop100U.S.[See Disclaimer on page 29] howtoeitherabsorbsomewith other countries. Whileopen question at this point.Importers and Exporters chartsAlso,USimportersfre- of the costs or negotiate withthat is easier said than doneWoodcontinues,What for2025highlightthelargestquentlyusethirdpartiesforcustomers to share the pain. for any country, the amountwe thought was going to be US ocean importers in terms oftheentryofgoodsthustheWoodsuggeststhisof time, energy and attentiontruewiththeU.S.,Mexico Twenty Foot Equivalent Unitsnumbersinthechartsaremightbethebestoption,ifthat is going to be spent tryingandCanadachangedinaTEUs. For thirty years thelargelythosewhichappearit is going to be a continuoustodivinewhatsgoingtomatter of hours on February AJOT has assembled the listsunder the importers own namegame. Are there going to behappen next could potentially3, so I dont think its neces-and as with years past, manyorsourcingcompany.Fortariffs or not? Is there goingbebetterspentbygettingsarilyaccuratetosaytariffs of the names remain the sameexample, Wal-Mart exceededto be a free trade agreementorganizedarounddiversify- aregoingtobetheprimary whilesurprisingnewnamesamillionTEUsinimportsornot?Ithinkitsincum- ing and doing more businessfactor going forward. I think emerge.Oftenthesenewover a decade ago and likelybentonbusinessleaderstowiththeEuropeanUnion,uncertaintyandvolatilityin companies become staples ofhaseclipsedtwomilliondeal with reality and not onAsia and even Africa, Woodgeneralwillcontinuetobe the American economyasTEUsannually.Butinourspeculation,andadmittedlysays.thetwopredominantforces Wal-Mart has demonstrated.newlistwith2024figures,that is getting harder by theimpacting global trade.In some respects, the charts(NOTES continued onday, he concedes. t hel ongr un (UNCERTAINTY contin-measuremorethanasinglepage 26) Both Canada and MexicoWhathappenstoU.S.ued on page 28)companysperformance.The healthoftheUSeconomy isintricatelyinterwoveninits internationaltradeperformance. Often,whenimportersand exportersdowell,theUS economy does well.h ow thel istw asM adeThe American Journal of Transportationhasforthree decadesannuallypublished aspecialissuethattracks the largest US importers and exporters. The Top Importers and Exporters charts highlight the largest US ocean import-ers and exporters, both mea-sured in terms of Twenty Foot EquivalentUnitsTEUs ratherthanintonsordol-lars. The charts are based on data from ocean imports from billsofladings(BLs)which forstatisticalpurposesaver-ages this tally out into TEUs. For this reason, the totals do notexactlyalignwithTEU totalsreportedbyUSport authorities. Equally, all boxes (TEUs) arent created equal as thedollarvalueofoneitem suchaselectronicscanbe vastlylargerthansaypaper products.Also,somefreight cubes out and other freight weigh out as the density of theitemsvariesenormously agriculturalcommodities arebytheirnatureheavier than consumer items such as apparelorelectronics.The difference in the freight is part of the reason the US has an imbalance in TEU imports to exports. Simply put, imported consumer goods take up more containers than exported weighty commodities. Fornearlyadecade,the information in the AJOTs Top 100 Importers chart is derived fromDescartes-Datamynes excellentdatadrivenintel-ligenceservice(www.data-myne.com).Thedatawas assembledwithcare,butas acaveat,allinformationis wroughtwithsomanyvari-ablesthattheresultaswell shouldbeviewedwithcare.'