supply-chain

September Set to Be 2026's Busiest Month at US Ports

Published September 28, 20264 min read

Aerial view of a container terminal yard densely packed with stacked shipping containers at dusk. — With September forecast to be the busiest month of the year, US ports are running at record density as the peak season stretches on. Illustration: MarketIntelLabs

The busiest month of 2026 at America's big container ports will not be May, when retailers front-ran tariffs. It is forecast to be September. The National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, in their Global Port Tracker released September 9, put September at 2.31 million TEU, up 9.6 percent from a year earlier and slightly ahead of July's 2.3 million as the year's high-water mark. The peak season that was supposed to end by Labor Day is instead running a month past its traditional slot, and that late peak is the clearest evidence yet that importers kept restocking rather than pausing.

Key Takeaways NRF's Global Port Tracker, released September 9, forecasts September 2026 at 2.31 million…

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