For supply chain leaders, planning for 2027 means working through a market that is sending mixed signals. Economic growth continues, consumer imports remain active and Southeast ports are investing for growth. At the same time, ocean capacity is expanding, service reliability remains uneven, logistics costs are elevated, and disruption continues to complicate long-range planning.
Those themes surfaced repeatedly at two recent South Carolina industry events: the 2026 SC Ports State of the Port, where SC Ports President and CEO Micah Mallace addressed Charleston’s growth strategy, and the South Carolina International Trade Conference (SCITC), where Paul Bingham of S&P Global Market Intelligence and Alan Murphy of Sea-Intelligence presented economic and ocean-market outlooks.
Additional data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, the Logistics Managers’ Index, and the 2026 State of Logistics Report.pdf add context to what these industry experts shared.
Taken together, the signals don’t point to one simple prediction for 2027. Instead, they suggest a different planning priority: building supply chains with enough optionality to respond as conditions change.
1. Economic Growth Is Continuing, but the Picture Is Uneven
The macroeconomic backdrop offers reasons for optimism, but not necessarily across every sector.
During SCITC’s Economists & Market Update, S&P Global Market Intelligence’s outlook, presented by Paul Bingham, characterized projected 2027 world economic growth as slightly higher but uneven. The presentation also showed significant differences among the growth outlooks for individual economies.
One particularly noteworthy factor is investment linked to artificial intelligence. Bingham’s presentation identified AI-related U.S. investment, including spending on information-processing equipment, software and data-center construction, as an increasingly important contributor to economic growth.
Recent government data reinforces the strength of investment and consumption. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that real GDP grew at a 3.4% annual rate during the third quarter of 2026, compared with 2.2% during the second quarter. BEA attributed the increase to investment, consumer spending and government spending, partially offset by declining exports. Imports increased during the quarter. GDP (Advance Estimate), 3rd Quarter 2026 [bea.gov]
But the picture is less uniform beneath those headline numbers. Bingham’s SCITC material showed manufacturers’ total orders increasing nominally during 2026 while remaining essentially flat in real terms through the freight recession. The presentation also did not anticipate a recovery in residential construction in 2027 amid high mortgage rates.
The implication for supply chain leaders is that overall economic growth should not automatically be interpreted as broad-based freight growth. Understanding which industries, commodities and markets are generating demand may prove more useful than relying on a single macroeconomic indicator.
2. Consumer Goods Remain an Important Source of Container Demand
One of the clearer signals from SCITC was the continuing importance of containerized consumer freight.
Sea-Intelligence data presented by Alan Murphy showed global container demand growing at approximately 5.5% year over year for the past three years. Murphy’s presentation also identified consumer goods and raw materials as significant contributors to the 2026 transpacific peak. Categories highlighted in the consumer-goods data ranged from apparel and furniture to toys, appliances, electronics, housewares and auto parts.
That finding is particularly relevant to Charleston because it aligns with SC Ports’ growth strategy.
At the 2026 State of the Port, Mallace outlined a strategy to continue supporting South Carolina’s manufacturing base while diversifying the Port’s cargo mix through additional consumer goods, retail distribution and refrigerated cargo. SC Ports contends that greater cargo diversification can contribute to a more resilient port. SC Ports CEO Address: Port team advances growth strategy [scspa.com]
SC Ports reported securing nearly 160,000 containers of new business across retail, consumer goods, manufacturing and export commodities, with the volume beginning to come online and continuing through 2027. The Port also reported commitments from national retail brands and major importers selecting Charleston as a Southeast gateway for discretionary lanes. [scspa.com]
National import data provide additional context. The National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates’ October Global Port Tracker forecast full-year 2026 import volume of 25.8 million TEUs, a 1.4% increase over 2025. NRF described 2026’s peak shipping season as beginning early and extending through summer and early fall, with August likely the busiest month. Import Cargo’s Extended Peak Season Wrapping Up [nrf.com]
For supply chain leaders, total container volume tells only part of the story. Cargo composition, demand geography and where goods ultimately need to be distributed can be equally important when evaluating port and network strategy.
3. More Ocean Capacity Doesn’t Eliminate Volatility
Another important distinction for 2027 planning is the difference between capacity availability and market predictability.
Murphy’s Sea-Intelligence presentation at SCITC showed significant containership deliveries entering the market, without vessel scrapping offsetting new deliveries to the same degree. His analysis also demonstrated strong alignment between utilization and spot rates on major trade lanes.
The 2026 State of Logistics Report reinforces the capacity concern. Its Water/Ports analysis describes the ocean freight environment as structurally oversupplied. The report says an unprecedented wave of new-build vessel capacity entering the market during 2026 is deepening the supply-demand imbalance. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
At the same time, oversupply has not eliminated volatility.
The report notes that rerouting, port inefficiencies and slower vessel speeds can reduce effective capacity even when nominal capacity is plentiful. It also reported that schedule reliability declined approximately three percentage points in early 2026 to about 59%. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
The distinction matters. A market can have abundant vessel capacity overall while individual lanes experience rapidly changing utilization, routing and service conditions.
For shippers, more capacity does not necessarily mean more predictability.
4. Reliability and Carrier-Network Design Deserve as Much Attention as Price
If capacity alone doesn’t tell the whole story, neither do freight rates.
Sea-Intelligence’s SCITC presentation characterized global schedule reliability and vessel delays as continuing challenges. At the same time, the data showed meaningful differences among individual carriers and alliances.
Murphy’s analysis compared carrier networks including Gemini, MSC, Ocean and Premier across measures such as unique port pairs, connection density and port-pair overlap. The presentation described alliance structures as segmenting into increasingly specialized connections.
This suggests that ocean procurement decisions should consider what a service actually provides, not simply what it costs.
Questions for shippers to consider include:
- Does a carrier’s network efficiently connect the origins and destinations that matter?
- How could different routing structures affect transit time and inland transportation?
- What alternatives are available if the primary service is disrupted?
- How could performance variability affect inventory requirements?
These are planning considerations drawn from the Sea-Intelligence findings rather than specific recommendations attributed to Sea-Intelligence.
The 2026 State of Logistics Report arrives at a related conclusion from a procurement perspective. Its Water/Ports section recommends shifting attention away from trying to time the ocean market and toward contracts, bids and scenario-based procurement approaches that preserve greater flexibility. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
5. The Southeast Continues to Position Itself for Additional Port-Driven Distribution Activity
Against this changing global backdrop, SC Ports sees an opportunity for South Carolina to capture additional trade and distribution activity.
Mallace pointed to South Carolina’s location within a rapidly growing region and emphasized available land, warehouses and labor, as well as port reliability and speed to market, as advantages for supporting retail supply chains. SC Ports CEO Address: Port team advances growth strategy [scspa.com]
There are also tangible signs of investment and activity. SC Ports reported a newly opened near-port transload facility for a global retailer and said 5 million square feet of industrial space had been leased in the Charleston market during 2026 at the time of the October 27 State of the Port announcement. [scspa.com]
Intermodal connectivity is another part of the strategy. SC Ports continues to work toward resuming operations at Leatherman Terminal and bringing the rail-served Navy Base Intermodal Facility online, while work has begun to expand the rail-served North Charleston Terminal. Mallace emphasized the importance of fast rail connections between inland markets and Charleston. [scspa.com]
Notably, SC Ports did not portray current conditions as an uninterrupted growth story. The Port acknowledged that volumes remained down while arguing that business already secured should contribute future volumes as projects come online. [scspa.com]
That distinction is important for supply chain planning. Near-term market softness and longer-term infrastructure and network investment can exist simultaneously.
6. The Logistics Challenge Extends Beyond the Port
A port decision is ultimately one component of a much larger supply chain decision.
The October 2026 Logistics Managers’ Index highlights this point. The overall LMI registered 70.7, its second-highest reading in four years. Inventory Levels accelerated to 66.9 and Inventory Costs reached 88.8, their highest reading since March 2022. October 2026 Logistics Managers’ Index [the-lmi.com]
At the same time, Warehousing Capacity registered 43.5 and Transportation Capacity 38.0, both indicating contraction under the LMI methodology. Warehousing Prices reached 80.7, while Transportation Prices stood at 88.0. The report also found downstream retailers building inventory somewhat faster than upstream respondents and connected that movement with holiday stocking. [the-lmi.com]
The 2026 State of Logistics Report offers additional context on inventory strategy. It describes companies as moving away from broad stockpiling toward more targeted buffers in categories with higher risk or variability. It also notes that transportation, inventory positioning and fulfillment decisions are beginning to be considered more holistically as networks become increasingly complex. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
Together, these indicators suggest that supply chain leaders evaluating a gateway should consider more than what happens at the terminal.
Port access, warehouse availability, inland transportation, inventory positioning and total logistics costs all contribute to the performance of the network.
7. The Strategic Response: Build Optionality Rather Than Betting on One Forecast
Perhaps the most useful conclusion from these different market signals is that the objective for 2027 shouldn’t be to construct a supply chain around one forecast.
The 2026 State of Logistics Report describes logistics networks as operating in an environment of persistent structural volatility. Its central recommendation is to move from periodic optimization toward continuous adaptation. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
More specifically, the report recommends deliberately creating network optionality through diversified ports and origin points, contingency routing strategies, and inventory buffers positioned at ports, inland hubs and cross-border nodes. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
The same principle applies to ocean procurement. The report recommends structuring contracts and bids to preserve flexibility and using scenario-based procurement instead of attempting to perfectly time changing freight markets. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
That recommendation becomes particularly relevant when viewed alongside the signals emerging from the State of the Port and SCITC:
- Economic growth continues but is uneven.
- Consumer goods remain an important driver of containerized freight.
- New vessel capacity is entering the market, but volatility has not disappeared.
- Carrier networks and service reliability differ.
- Charleston is investing in cargo diversification and intermodal connectivity.
- Logistics cost and capacity pressures extend from ports into warehousing, inventory and inland transportation.
Each signal points toward the same planning principle: resilience depends on having choices.
For companies preparing their supply chains for 2027, some of the most useful questions may therefore be:
- Do we have viable alternatives to our primary port gateway?
- Are we evaluating carrier service, network design and reliability alongside price?
- What alternate routes are available when a preferred lane is disrupted?
- Is inventory positioned to support more than one demand or transportation scenario?
- Are port, transportation and warehousing decisions being evaluated as one network?
- How would the network respond if demand, freight rates or capacity moved materially differently than forecast?
The goal isn’t to eliminate uncertainty. It is to avoid allowing one unexpected development to dictate the performance of the entire supply chain.
As 2027 approaches, the most resilient supply chain may not be the one designed around the most accurate prediction. It may be the one designed with the greatest ability to adapt when the prediction is wrong.
For companies reviewing their port and distribution strategies for 2027, this may be the right time to assess not only where freight enters the network, but what options exist after it arrives. Connecting port access, transportation, warehousing and inventory positioning can reveal where additional flexibility could strengthen the overall supply chain.
Sources & Further Reading
SC Ports
South Carolina Ports Authority. “SC Ports CEO Address: Port Team Advances Growth Strategy.” October 27, 2026.
Read the SC Ports article [scspa.com]
Additional source: Micah Mallace, President and CEO, South Carolina Ports Authority. 2026 State of the Port presentation. Presentation slides photographed at the event and supplied for this article.
Used for: SC Ports’ growth strategy, cargo diversification, new business, retail/distribution activity, Charleston industrial leasing, intermodal development and current volume conditions. [scspa.com]
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Paul Bingham, Director, Transportation Consulting, S&P Global Market Intelligence. Economists & Market Update. South Carolina International Trade Conference, 2026.
Source: Presentation slides photographed at SCITC 2026 and supplied for this article.
Used for: 2027 global economic outlook, AI-related investment, manufacturing orders, productivity and residential-construction outlook.
Editorial note: Data and outlook statements derived from these slides should be attributed specifically to S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis presented at SCITC 2026, rather than cited as a separate published S&P Global report.
Sea-Intelligence
Alan Murphy, CEO & Founder, Sea-Intelligence. Economists & Market Update. South Carolina International Trade Conference, 2026.
Source: Presentation slides photographed at SCITC 2026 and supplied for this article.
Used for: Global container demand, transpacific commodity demand, containership capacity, vessel scrapping, utilization and spot rates, carrier-alliance design, schedule reliability and delays.
Editorial note: Findings should be attributed to Sea-Intelligence data presented at SCITC 2026.
2026 State of Logistics Report
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Kearney. 2026 State of Logistics Report. 2026. The report states that CSCMP and Kearney maintain its research methodology and identifies Kearney analysis throughout; it also identifies Penske Logistics on its publisher information page. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
Used for: Ocean-freight overcapacity and volatility, procurement flexibility, scenario planning, inventory strategy, network optionality, port/origin diversification and contingency routing. [2026 State…Report | PDF]
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. GDP (Advance Estimate), 3rd Quarter 2026. October 29, 2026.
Read the official BEA release [bea.gov]
Used for: Q3 2026 U.S. GDP growth, investment and consumer-spending contributions, imports and domestic-purchaser data. [bea.gov]
National Retail Federation / Hackett Associates
National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. Import Cargo’s Extended Peak Season Wrapping Up. October 8, 2026.
Read the NRF Global Port Tracker release [nrf.com]
Used for: U.S. container-import volumes, 2026 peak-season timing and the forecast of 25.8 million TEUs for full-year 2026. [nrf.com]
Logistics Managers’ Index
Logistics Managers’ Index. October 2026 Logistics Managers’ Index. November 3, 2026. The report states that it was issued by university researchers in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. [the-lmi.com]
Read the October 2026 Logistics Managers’ Index [the-lmi.com]
Used for: Logistics industry expansion, inventory levels and costs, warehousing capacity and prices, transportation capacity and prices, and retailer inventory activity. [the-lmi.com]
