What does PIMS tell freight market participants about ocean freight?

PIMS tells you how many ocean freight or maritime shipments are being cleared through each port by U.S. Customs. In other words, of all ocean freight import shipments that are being cleared through U.S. ports each month, what percentage is moving through a specific port of entry. PIMS shows you the clear shifts in volume each month between all U.S. ports of entry. This can be important when trying to distinguish how U.S. importers are choosing to route their shipments and can be a lead indicator for which parts of the country are receiving more import shipment volumes. Consequently, you can determine which are likely to create more outbound truckload and intermodal volumes.

Pro Tip: Use PIMS with ICSTM (U.S. Customs Imports Shipments by Port) to see the exact number of shipments that each of the ports is managing, which brings a deeper level of visibility and granularity to each specific U.S. port.   

How can each freight market participant utilize PIMS for use cases?

• Analysts: PIMS is an important metric to track U.S. import volumes into specific regions of the country. Anyone monitoring any facet of the domestic U.S. freight market will be interested in seeing which ports are handling the greatest volume of U.S. imports. Since a large portion of these shipments are moved into distribution centers in nearby markets, this metric has a direct impact on how many domestic U.S. truckload freight or less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments will originate from those nearby markets.  
• Carriers: Carriers should monitor PIMS since it has a direct impact on the volumes of domestic truckload and LTL shipments that will originate from portside markets. When you see a port increase in market share, then you should assume that any truckload markets that contain that port are likely to increase in volume due to a surge in ocean freight shipments. This is also a major indicator of long-term trends in how shippers are routing their shipments into the U.S. 
• Brokers: If you are routing shipments into the U.S. for a shipper, then it is important to understand how various U.S. ports are trending in terms of volume. If you see a port capturing more market share, then that could be a major indication that the port is likely to continue receiving more ocean freight volume in the long-term. If that occurs, you may want to reach out to your ocean freight carriers to see about options routing into that port, since they may be offering cheaper freight rates to help boost their services into that port. 
• Shippers: Shippers can utilize PIMS to better understand how their shipper cohorts are choosing to route their shipments into the U.S., as well as monitor any major increases or decreases in volume to a specific port to better understand if there is likely to be more or less ocean freight congestion in that port as a result of how volumes are trending. If you see a port capturing more market share, then that could be a key indication that the port is likely to continue receiving more volume in the long-term. If that occurs, you may want to reach out to your freight forwarders and ocean freight carriers to see about options routing into that port, since they may be offering cheaper spot freight rates to help boost their services into that port.

Keep ahead of the ocean freight market and turn to SONAR to see U.S. port import market share with PIMS

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