Breaking Down America’s Biggest Container Ports: 2024 Trade Insights
Leading U.S. Container Export Gateways, 2024
As we have noted above, the U.S. Commerce Department compiles some useful statistics on the value and weight of containerized cargos passing through American ports. Based on the declared dollar value of containerized cargos, Exhibit 6 and Exhibit 7 respectively list the nation’s leading container import and export gateways in 2024.
Exhibit 7. Leading U.S. Container Export Ports by Value, 2024
Source: U.S. Commerce Department
Exhibit 6. Leading U.S. Container Imports Ports by Value, 2024
Source: U.S. Commerce Department
| Maritime Gateways | CY 2024 Dollar Value of Container Imports | Change from 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach | $345.266 Billion | +15.0% |
| Port of New York/New Jersey | $170.688 Billion | +4.4% |
| Port of Savannah | $91.182 Billion | +2.6% |
| Port of Virginia (Norfolk) | $67.763 Billion | +0.8% |
| Port Houston | $66.809 Billion | -5.6% |
| Port of Charleston | $64.256 Billion | -0.4% |
| NWSA | $51.482 Billion | +9.0% |
| Port of Oakland | $31.561 Billion | +13.4% |
| PhilaPort | $18.793 Billion | +15.3% |
| Port Miami | $18.428 Billion | -4.8% |
| Port of Baltimore | $17.167 Billion | -30.3% |
| Port Everglades | $11.405 Billion | +9.3% |
| Chester (PA) | $11.241 Billion | +26.2% |
| Port of Mobile | $10.422 Billion | -3.7% |
| JaxPort | $9.399 Billion | +4.9% |
| Port of New Orleans | $7.101 Billion | +1.8% |
| Port of Wilmington (NC) | $6.808 Billion | +18/8% |
| Port of Boston | $4.956 Billion | +1.9% |
| Port of San Diego | $2.925 Billion | -4.1% |
| Port of Tampa | $2.625 Billion | +6.1% |
| Port Hueneme | $2.599 Billion | -12.9% |
| Maritime Gateways | CY 2024 Dollar Value of Container Exports | Change from 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach | $53.031 Billion | +4.4% |
| Port of New York/New Jersey | $38.808 Billion | +7.5% |
| Port Houston | $38.135 Billion | +6.0% |
| Port of Virginia (Norfolk) | $35.643 Billion | +0.8% |
| Port of Savannah | $26.910 Billion | +2.2% |
| Port of Oakland | $17.220 Billion | +6.7% |
| Port of Charleston | $15.102 Billion | -5.2% |
| Port Everglades | $11.748 Billion | -2.0% |
| NWSA | $9.917 Billion | +4.4% |
| Port Miami | $9.894 Billion | -1.4% |
| Port of New Orleans | $5.997 Billion | -2.9% |
| Port of Wilmington (NC) | $5.233 Billion | +3.8% |
| Chester (PA) | $4.391 Billion | +43.0% |
| Port of Baltimore | $4.300 Billion | -36.7% |
| PhilaPort | $3.342 Billion | +14.0% |
| JaxPort | $3.275 Billion | -10.6% |
| Port of Mobile | $3.252 Billion | -7.0% |
| Port of West Palm Beach | $2.486 Billion | +2.0% |
| Port of Portland (ME) | $984.2 Million | -1.0% |
| Port of Gulfport | $907.4 Million | +5.3% |
| Port of Boston | $752.7 Million | -6.7% |
West Coast River Ports
There are three ports along the Washington State side of the Columbia River that export large volumes of corn, wheat, soybeans, and other agricultural commodities, most of which are shipped by rail from farms and silos in the Upper Midwest. Last year, the Ports of Kalama, Longview, and Vancouver collectively enjoyed their third most robust export year ever, trailing only the volumes achieved in 2021 and 2018. The 30,505,579 metric tons exported through the three ports represented a 25.9% jump over the preceding year’s volume.
Individually, the Port of Kalama exported 14,055,777 metric tons, 13.2% more than it had a year earlier. The Port of Longview shipped 9,884,063 metric tons abroad in 2024, a 50.1% jump over 2023. Meanwhile, the Port of Vancouver in Washington State recorded exports totaling 6,615,740 metric tons last year, a 25.4% boost over the year before.
Corn (maize) led the list of exported commodities with 9,292,000 metric tons, just ahead of wheat (8,542,523 metric tons) and soybeans (7,253,209 metric tons). China was the top destination, although the volume shipped there fell 11.2% from the preceding year. Still, China accounted for 31.0% of the commodities exported from the three ports. Exports to Japan, by contrast, swelled to a 26.0% share last year from a more modest 15.8% share in 2023. Placing third with a 10.7% share was South Korea, with the Philippines (8.0%) and Taiwan (3.8%) rounding out the top five destinations of exports shipped from the Ports of Kalama, Longview, and Vancouver (Washington State).
Port of Halifax Numbers
Not all North American ports publish timely TEU statistics. Still, we thought it appropriate that we should catch up with them from time to time. Up in Nova Scotia, the storied Port of Halifax reports it handled 367,347 TEUs in the first three quarters of 2024, a 10.8% fall-off from a year earlier. Inbound trade (186,511 TEUs) was down 12.7%, while outbound traffic (180,836 TEUs) was off by 8.7% from the same period a year earlier. Curiously, the year-over-year declines in containerized trade were less acute when measured in metric tons, with total containerized tonnage (2,957,901 metric tons) down by 6.7% through last year’s first three quarters.
The port claims to be two days closer to Europe and one day closer to Southeast Asia (via the now troubled Suez Canal route) than any other port on North America’s Atlantic Coast. As such, Halifax played a major role in the transatlantic trade up through the mid-1950s. The significance of Halifax has since been eclipsed by the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and by the advent of large containers bound for the larger U.S. markets.
The port has seen its share of tragedies. Many of the bodies recovered from the Titanic in April 1912 were brought to Halifax. On December 6, 1917, an ammunition ship bound for the front lines in France exploded in the harbor with such force that more than 2,000 civilians ashore were killed.
Washing Machines Tariffs
Tariffs, such as the one President Donald Trump imposed on imported washing machines in January 2018, can jumble markets, as Exhibit 8 demonstrates.
But there are things beyond tariffs that can dramatically reshape supply chains. The rapid emergence of lower cost competitors is another.
In 2000, if you bought an imported washing machine, it was almost certainly manufactured in Europe. Sweden alone commanded 48.9% of the trade, with Spain (20.5%), Germany (18.3%) and the Czech Republic (10.2%) trailing behind. By 2010, however, only Germany (12.8%) held a significant share. The European manufacturers had been overtaken by South Korea (42.7%) and Mexico (28.2%).
China’s share of the market had gone from 9.2% in 2010 to 66.7% in 2015 before last year’s 22.4% share, just a smidge above Mexico’s 22.3% share. South Korea’s imposing 42.7% share in 2010 plunged as China’s share rose. By 2024, South Korea’s share had settled at 16.5%. Two nations, Thailand and Vietnam. had a negligible 1.3% of the market between them in 2010. Last year, their combined share of the U.S. import market stood at 29.7%.
Lowest Cost Transit of the Panama Canal Ever
There has been a lot of chatter of late about the fees being charged by the Panama Canal Authority (PCA). To some (e.g., shipping lines), the charges are too high. To others (specifically the PCA), they are barely enough to sustain daily operations, let alone invest in securing more reliable water supplies. There is nothing in the PCA’s published “List of Tolls” that states that American vessels or ships carrying merchandise to or from U.S. ports must pay a surcharge. Still, President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio have been demanding that the transit fees assessed to U.S. shipping should be much, much lower.
So how low can they go? Probably not nearly as low as a few soon-be-extinct American pennies?
Given the numerous posted signs warning of the crocodiles and caimans inhabiting the Canal Zone’s waterways and occasionally getting swept into the canal’s locks, taking a dip in these waters is definitely not to be encouraged. But in 1928, according to the PCA records, the American adventurer Richard Halliburton paid a fee of 36 cents to swim the length of the canal. That works out to $6.57 in today’s currency. Halliburton survived that adventure but disappeared eleven years later as he attempted to sail a Chinese junk from Hong Kong to San Francisco.
For anyone wanting to bring a sailboat measuring less than 65 feet in length through the canal, the posted basic fee is currently $2,300.