Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 11 percent in February over the same month last year and the first half of 2011 should be up six percent over the same period in 2010, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. “Strong growth in 2010 has retailers cautiously optimistic that the economic recovery is finally taking hold,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. U.S. ports handled 1.14 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in December, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was down 7 percent from November as the holiday season wound down, but up 5 percent from December 2009.