How would various freight participants use the CSTM Index?

When freight participants in the market understand the CSTM, they can understand demand, plan for capacity shortages or boons, and get a better leading indicator of trucking rates moving from those markets where these major ports are located. Let’s take a look at how various freight market participants use CSTM to monitor ocean imports volumes and plan accordingly: 

• Analysts: The volume of ocean imports clearing U.S. customs is a leading indicator of intermodal and truckload demand since imports require subsequent surface transportation to warehousing or consumption centers. Imports are closely tied to the railroads’ international intermodal volumes. In addition, a large portion of the goods moved by publicly traded domestic intermodal providers includes imported freight that has been trans-loaded from international containers into larger domestic containers. The market share of U.S. ports of entry should be monitored by analysts because intermodal is a much more viable service for imports entering via the West Coast (i.e., more competitive with trucks) given the longer average lengths of haul to consumption centers.
• Carriers: Since the U.S. imports much more than it exports, and a large percentage of those containerized international shipments eventually transition into truckload volumes, keeping track of the CSTM tickers can provide insights into which ports in the U.S. are handling those international volumes. Many of these volumes are brought into U.S. ports and then moved to nearby distribution markets for transloading into truckloads, so these markets are important to monitor for volume trends. 
• Brokers: Brokers are the intermediaries between carriers and shippers and are dependent upon the same volumes that are brought into the U.S. from overseas. Much like carriers, monitoring the CSTM tickers can provide important insights into different markets/regions within the U.S. for truckload volumes.
• Shippers: By monitoring the CSTM tickers, shippers can gain insights into which countries of origin other importers are sourcing their materials from. Shippers can also monitor important trends in U.S. port volumes to better understand how increasing or decreasing ocean imports demand through specific ports may affect their supply chains.   

How to use the CSTM Index with other SONAR charts

Use CSTM with Port Import Market Share (PIMS) to see the market share of one particular U.S. port relative to all other U.S. ports. The Port Import Market Share (PIMS) displays the market share that each U.S. port is capturing of the total U.S. Customs Maritime Import Shipments on a monthly basis. The U.S. ports labeled in this ticker are the U.S. ports that were identified as the ports of entry on the bill of lading when the shipments were cleared for entry by USCBP. There is only one port of entry for each shipment.