Coming off of the month of June, which showed fairly flattish global trade growth, data from Panjiva, an online search engine with detailed information on global suppliers and manufacturers, showed a spurt in activity in July.

U.S.-bound waterborne shipments—at 1,230,726—were up 9 percent compared to June and up 4 percent annually. Panjiva said this represents the highest shipment levels it has seen since it started tracking shipments in 2008.