August 2024 TEUs

Facts and FiguresPort VolumesMaritime Operations

Oct 17

August Inbound Loaded | August Outbound Loaded | August YTD | USWC Shares Mainland Ports | USWC Shares East Asia

August 2024 Inbound Loaded

   PortAugust 2024August 2023August 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 509,363  433,224  437,613 17.6%16.4%
Long Beach 456,868  325,436  322,780 40.4%41.5%
San Pedro Bay Total 966,231  758,660  760,393 27.4%27.1%
Oakland 83,272  72,481  88,325 14.9%-5.7%
NWSA 123,652  82,767  112,267 49.4%10.1%
Hueneme 9,522  10,540  4,831 -9.7%97.1%
San Diego 6,033  6,086  5,318 -0.9%13.4%
USWC Total 1,188,710  930,534  971,134 27.7%22.4%
Boston 8,770  13,150  14,047 -33.3%-37.6%
NYNJ395,687 348,921  342,541 13.4%15.5%
Philadelphia 36,171  33,780  25,443 7.1%42.2%
Maryland 37,479  49,647  44,195 -24.5%-15.2%
Virginia 139,127  136,788  121,542 1.7%14.5%
South Carolina 99,078  102,207  103,221 -3.1%-4.0%
Georgia 244,306  202,423  217,017 20.7%12.6%
Jaxport 30,616  33,242  30,484 -7.9%0.4%
Port Everglades 28,952  26,801  24,407 8.0%18.6%
USEC Total1,020,186 946,959  922,897 7.7%10.8%
New Orleans 11,745  9,229  11,908 27.3%-1.4%
Houston 163,211  149,660  110,318 9.1%47.9%
USGC Total 174,956  158,889  122,226 10.1%43.1%
Vancouver 155,676  135,492  145,860 14.9%-6.7%
Prince Rupert 35,619  26,329  71,453 35.3%-50.2%
British Columbia Total 191,295  161,821  217,313 18.2%-12.0%
Lazaro Cardenas 74,158  60,650  58,379 22.3%27.0%
Manzanillo 149,833  130,826  119,933 14.5%24.9%
Mexico Pacific Coast Total 223,991  191,476  178,312 17.0%25.6%
 U.S. Ports Total2,3838,852  2,036,382  2,016,257 17.1%18.2%

August 2024 Outbound Loaded

   PortAugust 2024August 2023August 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 121,744  124,988  146,284 -2.6%-16.8%
Long Beach 104,646  93,402  124,975 12.0%-16.3%
San Pedro Bay Total 226,390  218,390  271,259 3.7%-16.5%
Oakland 59,362  62,785  75,080 -5.5%-20.9%
NWSA 51,427  43,399  74,852 18.5%-31.3%
Hueneme 2,124  2,112  1,207 0.6%76.0%
San Diego 472  490  392 -3.7%20.4%
USWC Total 339,775  327,176  422,790 3.9%-19.6%
Boston 3,806  5,863  8,220 -35.1%-53.7%
NYNJ116,628 106,025  127,237 10%-8.3%
Philadelphia 6,679  6,301  6,052 6.0%10.4%
Maryland 16,551  19,945  19,924 -17.0%-16.9%
Virginia 93,663  89,959  80,655 4.1%16.1%
South Carolina 52,025  56,459  73,927 -7.9%-29.6%
Georgia 117,828  101,539  125,558 16.0%-6.2%
Jaxport 44,710  42,644  42,934 4.8%4.1%
Port Everglades 37,760  32,047  37,602 17.8%0.4%
USEC Total 489,650  485,320  555,089 6.3%-6.2%
New Orleans 22,095  17,934  26,022 23.2%-15.1%
Houston 131,241  110,008  109,388 19.3%20.0%
USGC Total 153,336  127,942  135,410 19.8%13.2%
Vancouver 62,825  56,085  92,120 12.0%-31.8%
Prince Rupert 10,729  7,928  15,144 35.3%-29.2%
British Columbia Total 73,554  64,013  107,264 14.9%-31.4%
Lazaro Cardenas 4,927  5,661  22,586 -13.0%-78.2%
Manzanillo 26,138  27,494  22,588 -4.9%-15.7%
Mexico Pacific Coast Total  31,065  33,155  45,174 -6.3%-31.2%
U.S. Ports Total 1,087,380 1,013,068  1,232,747 -7.3%11.8%

August 2024 Year-to-Date TEUs

   PortAugust 2024August 2023August 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 6,631,688  5,649,686  6,311,874 17.4%5.1%
Long Beach 6,087,875  4,993,237  4,971,407 21.9%22.5%
San Pedro Bay Ports 12,719,563  10,642,923  11,283,281 19.5%12.7%
NYNJ5,807,5175,128,5634,995,42013.2%16.3%
Georgia 3,680,293  3,236,290  3,076,998 13.7%19.6%
Houston 2,791,127  2,510,162  1,980,512 11.2%40.9%
Manzanillo 2,602,946  2,398,527  2,060,201 8.5%26.3%
Virginia 2,400,056  2,165,883  1,977,687 10.8%21.4%
Vancouver 2,380,129  2,006,393  2,168,379 18.6%9.8%
NWSA 2,137,902  1,874,148  2,562,329 14.4%-16.6%
South Carolina 1,664,017  1,637,060  1,651,069 1.6%0.8%
Lazaro Cardenas 1,586,838  1,175,948  905,449 34.9%75.3%
Oakland 1,513,303  1,372,870  1,697,713 10.2%-10.9%
Montreal 991,959  1,011,082  1,173,617 -1.9%-15.5%
JaxPort 905,081  853,573  904,612 6.0%0.1%
Port Everglades 734,733  672,494  690,233 9.3%6.4%
Philadelphia 572,897  475,361  408,386 20.5%40.3%
Prince Rupert 533,966  478,175  782,659 11.7%-31.8%
Maryland 403,365  746,377  1,021,341 -46.0%-60.5%
New Orleans 340,948  319,096  424,295 6.8%-19.6%
Boston 171,519  156,626  201,483 9.5%-14.9%
Hueneme 150,362  165,733  83,376 -9.3%80.3%
San Diego 96,457  104,802  93,348 -8.0%3.3%
Portland, Oregon 62,754  82,703 26-24.1%∞
U.S. Ports Total 36,151,894  32,144,644  33,052,109 15.5%9.4%

August 2024 Container Traffic at Major North American Ports

Exhibits 1-3 detail container traffic through the ports we monitor. Here is how the busiest container ports fared in August.

The Port of Long Beach experienced an expected burst in container traffic in August as cargo owners continued to move higher volumes of cargo through U.S. West Coast ports in anticipation of a potential labor disruption that could shut down ports along the East and Gulf Coast on October 1. The 456,868 inbound loaded TEUs discharged at the Long Beach gateway in Southern California were the highest number of inbound loads in any other month in the port’s history. This represented a 40.4% bump over the preceding August and a 41.5% gain over the pre-pandemic August of 2019. Outbound loads (104,646) were up 12.0% year-over-year but down 16.3% from August 2019. Year-to-date, total container traffic (loads and empties) through the port amounted to 6,087,875 TEUs, a 22.5% increase over the first eight months of 2019.

Across the harbor at the Port of Los Angeles, inbound loads (509,363) were the most the port has handled in a single month since May 2021. The year-over-year gain was 17.6%, while the increase since August 2019 was 16.4%. Outbound loads in August (121,744) were down 1.6% from the preceding year and also down 16.8% from August 2019. Total container traffic through the first eight months of the year at the Southern California gateway (6,631,688) was up 5.1% from the identical period in 2019.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Port of Oakland posted historic lows for August. Although the number of laden TEUs discharged at the Northern California gateway this August did amount to a 14.9% bump over last August’s volume, the 83,272 inbound loads the port handled this August represented the second fewest the port recorded in any other August since 2017. Meanwhile, the 59,362 outbound loads that departed from the port last month were the fewest in any August in this century. Not surprisingly, total container traffic YTD (1,513,303) was the lowest since the first eight months of 2015.

Up in the State of Washington, import loads in August at the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Seattle and Tacoma amounted to 123,652, a 49.4% year-over-year gain but just a 10.1% increase over August 2019. Export loads (51,427) were up 18.5% from a year earlier but down 31.3% from August 2019. Total YTD containers moved through the two Puget Sound ports (2,137,902) represented a 16.6% decline from the same period in 2019.

Across the border in British Columbia, inbound loads through the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s busiest seaport, amounted to 155,676 TEUs, an increase of 14.9% from a year earlier but a 6.7% decline from August 2019. Outbound loads (62,825) were up 12.0% from the previous August but were down 31.8% from the same month in 2019. Total YTD container traffic through the port (2,380,129) represented a gain of 9.8% from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.

Moving to the Atlantic Coast, the Port of Virginia handled 139,127 loaded inbound TEUs in August, a modest 1.7% year-over-year bump but a 14.5% gain over August 2019. Outbound loads in August (93,663) were up 4.1% from the preceding August and 16.1% higher than the outbound loads reported in August 2019. Total YTD container traffic through the Mid-Atlantic gateway (2,400,056) represented a 21.4% increase over the first eight months of 2019.

At South Carolina’s Port of Charleston, inbound loads in August (99,078) were down 3.1% from a year earlier and 4.0% below August 2019. Outbound loads (52,025) were off by 7.9% year-over-year and 23.6% from the same month in 2019. Total container traffic through August (1,664,017) was up a mere 0.8% from the same period in 2019.

The 244,306 inbound loads discharged at the Port of Savannah in August represented a 20.7% gain over the same month last year and a 12.6% increase over August 2019. Outbound loads at the Georgia port (117,828) were up 16.0% year-over-year but remained 6.2% below the mark set in August 2019. YTD, total container traffic through the port (3,680,293) was up 19.6% over the first eight months of 2019.

Down along the Gulf of Mexico, Port Houston recorded 163,211 inbound loads in August, a year-over-year gain of 9.1% and an imposing 47.9% increase over August 2019. Outbound loads (131,241) were the most of any port in North America in August. Total YTD container moves through the Texas gateway (2,791,127) were up 40.9% over the same period in 2019.

South of the border, Mexico’s Port of Manzanillo handled 149,833 inbound loads in August, up 14.5% from a year earlier and up 24.9% from August 2019. Outbound loads (26,138) were down 4.9% and 15.7% from the respective benchmarks. Total container traffic YTD through the Pacific Coast port (2,602,946 TEUs) was up 26.3% from the same period in 2019.

USWC Ports Shares of Worldwide U.S. Mainland Container Trade

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Tonnage

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC39.0%35.7%38.3%43.4%
LA/LB29.2%26.6%27.4%32.1%
Oakland3.2%3.3%4.3%4.1%
NWSA4.9%4.1%5.4%5.5%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Value

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC43.4%40.9%40.4%49.3%
LA/LB33.7%31.9%34.6%38.2%
Oakland3.1%3.2%3.0%4.0%
NWSA5.8%6.0%7.3%6.4%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Tonnage

August 2024August 2023August 2019August 2014
USWC31.8%33.1%36.4%40.8%
LA/LB19.6%20.2%20.9%24.8%
Oakland5.1%5.7%5.9%5.7%
NWSA6.3%6.1%8.4%9.0%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Value

Major USWC Ports' Shares of U.S. Container Trade with East Asia