November 2024 TEUs

Facts and FiguresPort VolumesMaritime Operations

Jan 30

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

November 2024 Inbound Loaded

   PortNovember 2024November 2023November 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 458,165  384,619  371,350 19.1%23.4%
Long Beach 432,823  355,339  293,287 21.8%47.6%
San Pedro Bay Total 890,988  739,958  664,637 20.4%34.1%
Oakland 80,580  71,258  77,367 13.1%4.2%
NWSA 108,434  87,295  94,978 24.2%14.2%
Hueneme 10,422  9,886  4,725 5.4%120.6%
San Diego 6,502  5,668  5,772 14.7%12.6%
USWC Total 1,096,926  914,065  847,479 20.0%29.4%
Boston 11,619  11,636  11,538 -0.1%0.7%
NYNJ 353,206  324,511  301,123 8.8%17.3%
Philadelphia 34,706  30,422  19,093 14.1%81.8%
Maryland 44,375  42,676  38,915 4.0%14.0%
Virginia 119,731  128,419  103,410 -6.8%15.8%
South Carolina 104,682  98,115  82,785 6.7%26.5%
Georgia 228,488  211,056  173,863 8.3%31.4%
Jaxport 34,539  26,186  27,390 31.9%26.1%
Port Everglades 31,192  26,279  26,959 18.7%15.7%
USEC Total 962,538  899,300  785,076 7.0%22.6%
New Orleans 10,815  9,876  10,155 9.5%6.5%
Houston 163,403  137,631  101,494 18.7%61.0%
USGC 174,218  147,507  111,649 18.1%56.0%
Vancouver 120,235  147,700  123,918 -18.6%-3.0%
Prince Rupert 28,188  31,328  58,181 -10.0%-51.6%
British Columbia Total 148,423  179,028  182,099 -17.1%-18.5%
U.S. Ports Total 2,233,682  1,960,872  1,744,204 13.9%28.1%

November 2024 Outbound Loaded

   PortNovember 2024November 2023November 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 124,117  111,755  138,545 11.1%-10.4%
Long Beach 119,083  108,798  123,705 9.5%-3.7%
San Pedro Bay Total 243,200  220,553  262,250 10.3%-7.3%
Oakland 66,619  61,390  81,780 8.5%-18.5%
NWSA 63,964  51,537  73,589 24.1%-13.1%
Hueneme 2,696  2,594  1,181 3.9%128.3%
San Diego 682  478  272 42.7%150.7%
USWC Total 377,161  336,552  419,072 12.1%-10.0%
Boston 5,937  6,313  6,128 -6.0%-3.1%
NYNJ 123,530  111,743  119,422 10.5%3.4%
Philadelphia 7,246  6,108  6,406 18.6%13.1%
Maryland 21,030  19,286  20,254 9.0%3.8%
Virginia 100,531  101,628  77,241 -1.1%30.2%
South Carolina 52,663  59,397  61,903 -11.3%-14.9%
Georgia 116,004  107,623  119,126 7.8%-2.6%
Jaxport 45,943  40,230  44,440 14.2%3.4%
Port Everglades 41,194  34,229  39,665 20.3%3.9%
USEC Total 514,078  486,557  494,585 5.7%3.9%
New Orleans 22,578  19,095  23,600 18.2%-4.3%
Houston 135,299  116,396  107,927 16.2%25.4%
USGC Total 157,877  135,491  131,527 16.5%20.0%
Vancouver 54,976  65,757  91,707 -16.4%-40.1%
Prince Rupert 10,077  10,351  15,250 -2.6%-33.9%
British Columbia Total 65,053  76,108  106,957 -14.5%-39.2%
U.S. Ports Total 1,049,116  958,600  1,045,184 9.4%0.4%

November 2024 Year-to-Date TEUs

   PortNovember 2024November 2023November 2019 Change from 2023 Change from 2019
Los Angeles 9,375,736  7,887,162  8,590,884 18.9%9.1%
Long Beach 8,788,718  7,308,848  6,966,776 20.2%26.2%
San Pedro Bay 18,164,454  15,196,010  15,557,660 19.5%16.8%
NYNJ 8,009,409  7,175,917  6,886,388 11.6%16.3%
Georgia 5,103,417  4,505,368  4,238,344 13.3%20.4%
Houston 3,799,573  3,499,580  2,736,345 8.6%38.9%
Virginia 3,239,051  3,019,441  2,713,061 7.3%19.4%
Vancouver 3,200,415  2,852,236  3,126,993 12.2%2.3%
NWSA 3,035,986  2,711,245  3,490,851 12.0%-13.0%
South Carolina 2,299,125  2,272,588  2,248,305 1.2%2.3%
Oakland 2,080,275  1,889,698  2,306,496 10.1%-9.8%
Montreal 1,341,352  1,402,607  1,609,901 -4.4%-16.7%
JaxPort 1,254,815  1,189,494  1,235,362 5.5%1.6%
Port Everglades 1,025,637  921,265  949,196 11.3%8.1%
Philadelphia 768,682  676,355  554,337 13.7%38.7%
Prince Rupert 704,318  646,222  1,103,678 9.0%-36.2%
Maryland 645,681  1,028,583  991,781 -37.2%-34.9%
New Orleans 456,667  444,051  586,218 2.8%-22.1%
Boston 231,207  216,337  277,217 6.9%-16.6%
Hueneme 225,761  220,993  109,594 2.2%106.0%
San Diego 135,941  138,894  129,504 -2.1%5.0%
Portland, Oregon 89,984  109,097 26-17.5%∞
U.S. Ports Total 50,565,665  45,214,916  45,010,685 11.8%12.3%

November 2024 Container Traffic at Major North American Ports

November saw an 13.9% year-over-year rise in inbound loaded TEUs at the 18 U.S. ports monitored by PMSA. Collectively, those same ports outbound loads from those same ports were down 11.0% from a year earlier.

November data also confirmed that shippers had shifted inbound container traffic to U.S. West Coast (USWC) ports due to uncertainties surrounding labor-management relations at East and Gulf Coast ports. Not surprisingly, the latest monthly data show a decline in the import trade at East and Gulf Coast ports. Inbound loads at the California and Washington State ports PMSA monitors were up 25.2% from November 2023, while inbound loads at East and Gulf Coast ports were down 3.8% from a year earlier. At the two U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) ports we track, inbound loads fell 13.9%.

The nation’s busiest container port, the Port of Los Angeles, handled 458,165 inbound loaded TEUs in November, a 19.1% increase over the preceding November and a 23.4% gain over November 2019. Outbound loads (124,117) were up 11.1% year-over-year but down 10.4% from November 2019. Total YTD container movements through the San Pedro Bay port (empties and loads) thus far this year amounted to 9,375,736 TEUs, a 9.2% gain over the first eleven months of 2019.

Across the bay, the Port of Long Beach recorded 432,823 inbound loaded TEUs in November, a 21.8% jump from the previous November and a 47.6% gain over November 2019. Outbound loads (119,083) were up 9.5% from a year earlier but down 3.7% from November 2019. Total container traffic through the port YTD (8,788,718 TEUs) was up 26.2% over the first eleven months of 2019.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, 80,580 inbound loaded TEUs were discharged at the Port of Oakland in November, a 13.1% bump over a year earlier. However, it was also the fewest inbound loads at the port since April. Outbound loads (66,619 TEUs) represented an 8.5% gain over the same month in 2023 but also an 18.5% decline from November 2019. Total box traffic through the Northern California gateway YTD (2,080,275 TEUs) was down 9.8% from the same period in 2019.

Oregon’s Port of Portland has seen an uptick in overall container traffic in the last two months, but the 89,984 TEUs the Columbia River port handled in the year’s first eleven months was down 17.5% from the same period a year earlier.

Further north in Washington State, the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle saw 108,434 inbound loads in November, a 24.2% boost from a year earlier and a 14.2% increase over November 2019. Outbound loads (63,964), while up 24.1% year-over-year, were down 13.1% from November 2019. Total container movements so far this year (3,035,986 TEUs) were 13.0% below the column achieved in the same period in 2019.

In British Columbia, Canada’s largest port, the Port of Vancouver handled 120,235 inbound loaded TEUs in November, an 18.6% plunge from a year earlier and down 3.0% from November 2019. Outbound loads (54,976) were down 16.4% from a year earlier and off by 40.1% from November 2019. Total container traffic YTD (3,200,415 TEUs) was up 2.3% from the same period five years ago.

On the Atlantic Seaboard, 353,206 inbound loaded TEUs were discharged at the Port of New York/New Jersey (PNYNJ) in November, an 8.8% increase from a year earlier and a 17.3% gain over November 2019. Outbound loads (123,530) were up by 10.5% from November 2023 but just 3.4% over November 2019. Total container traffic YTD through the East Coast’s principal maritime gateway amounted to 8,009,409 TEUs, an 11.6% bump over the preceding year and a 16.3% increase over the same period in 2019.

The Port of Virginia moved 119,731 inbound loads in November, a 6.8% year-over-year decline but a 15.8% gain over November 2019. Outbound loads (100,531) in November edged up by 1.1% from a year earlier but represented a 30.2% increase over November 2019. Total container traffic YTD (3,239,051 TEUs) was up 19.4% over the first eleven months of 2019.

The Port of Charleston handled 104,682 inbound loads this November, up 6.7% from a year ago and 26.5% over the volume handled in October 2019. Outbound loads (52,663) were down 11.3% year-over-year and 14.9% below the number shipped in the same month five years ago. Total container traffic YTD through the South Carolina port (2,299,125 TEUs) was up 1.2% from the same period last year and up 2.3% from the first eleven months of 2019.

The Port of Savannah reported 229,488 inbound loads in November, an 8.3% year-over-year gain and a 31.4% improvement over November 2019. Outbound loads leaving the Georgia gateway in November (116,004) were up 7.8% from a year earlier but down 2.6% from the same month in 2019. Total container traffic through the port over the first eleven months of this year (5,103,4170 TEUs) represented a 20.4% increase from the same period in 2019.

Down on the Gulf of Mexico, Port Houston processed 163,403 inbound loads in November, up 18.7% from a year earlier and 61.0% more than in the same month in 2019. Outbound loads (135,299) were up 16.2% year-over-year and 25.2% over November 2019. Total container traffic YTD through the Texas gateway through November (3,799,573 TEUs) was up 38.9% 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

November 2024November 2023November 2019November 2014
USWC38.5%37.1%37.7%41.5%
LA/LB29.3%27.2%27.2%31.1%
Oakland3.2%3.3%3.9%3.8%
NWSA4.4%4.4%5.1%5.2%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Ports Containerized Import Value

November 2024November 2023November 2019November 2014
USWC43.4%41.5%45.8%53.3%
LA/LB34.3%32.3%34.6%41.1%
Oakland3.1%2.9%3.6%3.8%
NWSA4.8%5.3%6.9%7.6%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Tonnage

November 2024November 2023November 2019November 2014
USWC32.5%35.3%36.6%41.2%
LA/LB16.2%21.5%20.2%25.4%
Oakland4.4%5.3%6.6%6.8%
NWSA6.0%7.5%8.5%7.7%

Shares of U.S. Mainland Containerized Export Value

Exhibit 4 and Exhibit 5 display the U.S. West Coast ports’ shares of containerized trade through the mainland U.S. ports against which USWC ports compete for discretionary cargo. The November 2024 data presented here are derived from import/export documents shippers file with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For a broader perspective, we compare the most recent month for which data are available with the same month in the preceding year, in pre-pandemic 2019, and a decade earlier. For those who are inclined to add up the numbers, the USWC totals in these two exhibits include international container traffic moving through smaller West Coast ports like San Diego, Hueneme, and Everett in addition to the container figures from the USWC Big Five ports.

Exhibit 4 shows an impressive year-over-year boost in the USWC share of all containerized import tonnage flowing into all mainland U.S. ports. However, November’s 38.5% share was down from October’s 39.0% share, which was down from a 39.8% share in September. The exhibit also testifies to the consolidation of USWC containerized trade at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The fact that the two Southern California ports handled a larger value share (34.3%) than a weight share (29.3%) of containerized imports indicates that shippers of higher value goods still prioritize the San Pedro Bay gateway.

Exhibit 5 focuses on the USWC shares of U.S. containerized trade involving trading partners in East Asia. Again, the numbers indicate that the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are capturing a significantly larger share of the nation’s containerized import tonnage from East Asia. Still, both the Port of Oakland and the NWSA Ports of Tacoma and Seattle saw their import tonnage shares edge up from a year earlier.

The rise in the San Pedro Bay ports’ share of containerized imports from Asia was certainly a response to the threat of a strike or lockout that would have shut down America’s East and Gulf Coast ports. The International Longshoremen’s Association did walk out for three days in early October, but negotiations resumed and a provisional agreement on a new contract was reached in January.

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