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More than six months into the economic recovery, the nation’s ports on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts continue to see record or near-record cargo loads, and port officials and economists forecast the substantial numbers likely will continue well into 2022.

The Port of Los Angeles became the first port in the Western Hemisphere to process 10 million container units in a 12-month period, reaching the milestone on June 10.

For the last nine months, ports have seen record container volumes with movement limited and more supplies needed. As a lynchpin of our supply chain, managing a port requires high-functioning information systems to predict and plan for supply and demand as well as communicating with every link in the value chain.

Imported cargo shipments to the U.S. are expected to remain at a record or near-record levels for several more months as consumer spending continues to restart the pandemic-damaged economy. But industry experts say all of that buying is clogging an already overtaxed supply chain.

Ship congestion outside the busiest U.S. gateway for trade with Asia eased over the past week, with the number of container vessels waiting to enter the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach staying below 20 for five straight days.

Port leaders are raising caution the decline in business at their facilities could affect those whose employment relies on the flow of goods.

Officials at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, said the facility is operating at about 80% as factories in China slowly come back online, and the U.S. economy struggles amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Newly released figures from some of the nation’s major ports show cargo volumes are slumping as they struggle to recover from the U.S.-China trade war and now the steep downturn in factory output from China in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.

The shipping industry will remain volatile for most of 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak in China upends the global supply chain, said the head of the largest U.S. container port.

In his annual State of the Port address Jan. 16, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka cautioned that using tariffs to punish rival trading partners may be “the new normal.”