Higher Monthly Drop Than the 2020 Pandemic
Historically, shipping volumes jump up between April and May, according to Descartes, which notes that 2025 is the first year out of the last seven years to see a month-over-month decline between these two months, with one exception: The 2020 pandemic.
Even in 2020, though, shipping volumes only dropped by 8.2%, a percentage that was just beaten by the 9.7% decrease the nation experienced last month.
Back in April, we covered a prediction from the ITS Logistics’ Port Rail Ramp Index, which stated that cargo operators should plan for a change in May or June. The index called it a “cliff event similar to the impacts felt during the immediate COVID response.”
Now, we have data on May shipments, and they have indeed fallen farther than the pandemic months of April and May.
