The holidays arrive in the supply chain months before they arrive in stores. By the time a shopper is standing in front of a shelf in December, the product on it has already been produced, packaged, shipped and positioned.
That can sound like pressure. It does not have to be. DIZPOT has kept customers' packaging arriving on schedule through turbulent shipping seasons before, and we will again this year.
Here is what the current data says, and what it means for your year end planning.
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Retailers Have Already Moved
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The September 9 Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates forecasts September at 2.31 million TEU, up 9.6 percent year over year. That would make it the busiest import month of 2026.
What makes that notable is that nobody expected it. As recently as August, peak season looked like it had passed back in May, and volume was projected to step down through year end. Retailers kept pulling inventory in instead.
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The step down still comes, just later than forecast. October drops to 2.11 million TEU and November to 2.0 million. The window retailers are using right now is not a wide one.
The Holidays Are a Behavior, Not a Date
Holiday freight demand is not driven by the calendar. It is driven by what people do around it. Families gather. Travel increases. Retail spending climbs. Inventory turns faster than at any other point in the year, freight networks absorb all of it at once, and warehouses run heavier throughput for eight straight weeks.
In this industry the pattern is familiar. Green Wednesday, the week of Christmas and New Year's Eve are among the strongest retail days there are. The product that sells on those days is being packaged right now.
That is the part worth sitting with. Holiday demand does not arrive in December. The supply chain absorbs it in September and October so that December works.
What It Means for Your Packaging
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Ordering early is not about receiving product early. It protects the things you cannot buy back once they are gone. Production capacity, which is finite and being allocated now. Delivery timelines, which get less predictable as networks tighten. Lower cost freight options, which come off the table as peak pricing takes hold.
An order placed now moves on standard timelines at standard cost. The same order later competes for compressed capacity.
How DIZPOT Supports Its Customers During This Time
DIZPOT maintains consistent domestic shipping lanes across the U.S., helping customers keep packaging programs moving on a predictable schedule. Supported by DIZLOGIC, our logistics division, we build packaging timelines around real-world transportation, production, and inventory conditions, not assumptions.
If you haven't mapped your year-end packaging requirements yet, this is the week to do it. Our team can help you evaluate what's ahead and identify any potential pressure points before they impact your timeline.
DIZPOT helps customers stay ahead of supply chain disruptions before they become business problems.
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