New data from the US Census Bureau, covering sales and inventory changes in the United States up until the end of April 2024, indicates no signs of a sudden surge in container demand before the sharp increase in container spot rates in early May 2024.
For instance, Figure 1 demonstrates that the overall trend for all three categories of US sales remained flat from the end of the pandemic through April 2024. Similarly, inventories by category and inventory-to-sales ratios show no deviations from...
https://container-news.com/us-inventory-data-gave-no-sign-of-rate-spike/