Zepol Corp., the leading trade intelligence company, reports that U.S. import shipment volume for January, measured in TEUs, increased 13.4% from December, and rose 5.8% from January of 2011. The total number of inbound shipments also increased 12% from December and 6.4% from January of last year. The rise in January 2012 imports is similar to 2011’s data which also saw a significant increase in January from December of 8.5%. However, this trend was opposite in 2010 and 2009 which both fell in January from December numbers.

Key statistics from this month’s update:

1. TEU imports from China rose 20% in January from December, while Japanese imports dropped 11.7%. Total TEUs for Asia in January increased by 17%. Imports from Europe were also up 3% in January with significant rises from the countries of Spain and Turkey, which posted TEU increases of 12% and 34% respectively from December.

2. All of the top-ten ports increased in TEU imports in January. The number one port for January was Los Angeles, which saw a 12.5% rise in TEUs. The port of Savannah, GA witnessed a notable increase of 26% in January, as well as the port of Seattle which increased 19% from December.

3. For master carriers, the overall rise in shipments was seen in every top carrier for January. Specifically, Maersk Line, had a 17.5% growth from December. APL also had a large increase from the previous month of 22%, a happy spike compared to APL’s 13% drop from November to December. The Mediterranean Shipping Co. saw a lull in November to December as well, but a 13.5% increase in January, which is the common trend for overall U.S. imports from 2011 to 2012.

Zepol’s data is derived from bills of lading entered into the Automated Manifest System. This information represents the number of house manifests entered by importers of waterborne containerized goods. This is the earliest indicator for trade data available for the previous month’s import activity. The data excludes shipments from empty containers, excludes shipments labeled as freight remaining on board, and may contain other data anomalies.

Zepol Corp. is a Minnesota-based company working to provide the most complete and up-to-date U.S. trade data through subscription tools. TradeIQ is a U.S. Customs import bill of lading database utilized to find information about competitors, suppliers, prospects, and the products that they use, market, or transport. TradeView provides U.S. Census data to visualize the U.S. import and export market. ComplianceMonitor is a comprehensive tool that proactively alerts users of essential U.S. import trade compliance information

Zepol’s user base includes more than 1000 subscribers representing the leaders of every trade related industry. These customers are the most important players in the international trade community. Users include leading transportation executives, supply chain professionals, competitive intelligence practitioners, and intellectual property attorneys at:

* Over 40 of the Fortune 500
* 4 of the top 10 port authorities by volume
* 7 of the top 10 freight forwarders
* 2 of the top 3 fruit importers
* 9 of the top 20 chemical companies

For more information, visit www.zepol.com.