Holiday presents are en route to U.S. retailers, and the supply chain is hinting at stronger November-December sales this year than last.

While inbound-container volume at the Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, ports fell a combined 0.7 percent in July from a year earlier, it rose almost 13 percent the prior month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In February-July, the increase averaged 7.1 percent, compared with 3.4 percent in the 2013 period. That longer-term pace of activity reinforces a forecast of “rather robust” sales, according to Charles Clowdis, managing director of transportation advisory services at IHS Global Insight in Lexington,Massachusetts.