The Port of Los Angeles, California, recently said the port handled 887,000 TEUs last month, the second busiest April in its 115-year history. In the first four months of this year, the port handled more than 3.5 million TEUs, a 1% increase over last year's record pace.

There are hundreds of thousands of containers hitting the ports, but the U.S. port problems are not much improved compared with last year. The port's container yard is still stuffed with hundreds of thousands of containers.

Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, expects that the convergence of peak season shipments, continued restocking of online shopping products by retailers, and a possible sudden surge in Shanghai shipments in the second half of the year could trigger further growth in U.S. imports. It could have an impact on the trans-Pacific supply chain, which is already under significant transportation pressure. Compared with 2019, imports in the first four months of 2022 increased by 31.2%.

Data from PIERS, an S&P Global provider, showed that as of April, U.S. imports from Asia totaled 6.5 million TEUs, up 2.7 percent from a year ago. 1.7 million TEUs were imported in April, the highest value in 13 months and up 6.5 percent from April 2021, the third busiest month on record.

This year's peak shipping season is reportedly expected to arrive several weeks earlier than usual in the U.S., kicking off at the end of June. A survey of shipping industry professionals by Container xChange showed that three-quarters of respondents said this year's season would be as bad as last year's, even worse.