Preliminary February 2025 TEUs
The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association’s West Coast Trade Report is a monthly publication that monitors container traffic through 23 North American seaports, twenty in the United States and three in Canada. The TEU tallies cited here are the actual statistics released by the ports themselves, not a priori estimates based on proprietary models or algorithms. However, as the tardy numbers become available, the Facts & Figures tables on the PMSA website will be promptly updated.
What others are saying about February’s TEU Traffic
In their respective March 10 press releases, both the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Descartes Systems Group announced their estimates for inbound container traffic that month. The NRF’s Global Port Tracker (GPT) expected 2.07 million inbound loaded TEUs to arrive in this year’s second month at the thirteen U.S. ports GPT monitors. That would represent a 6.18% year-over-year gain. Descartes Systems Group, meanwhile, estimated that all U.S. ports would handle 2,238,942 imported loads, a 4.7% increase over February 2024.
What the ports themselves are saying about February
The Port of Long Beach reported 368,669 inbound loaded TEUs in February, an 11.8% year-over-year increase and a 21.7% gain over the pre-pandemic February of 2019. Outbound loads (90,026 TEUs) edged up by 2.9% from a year earlier but were down 14.5% from February 2019. Including loaded as well as empty containers, total YTD container traffic through the Southern California port amounted to 1,718,118 TEUs, a 37.0% gain over the same period in 2019.
At the neighboring Port of Los Angeles, the number of inbound loads in February edged up 1.1% from a year earlier to 413,236 TEUs. That also represented an 18.6% gain over February 2019. Outbound loads (109,156 TEUs) were down by 17.8% year-over-year and 23.4% below the volume recorded in the second month of 2019. Total container trade YTD through the San Pedro Bay port amounted to 1,725,643 TEUs, a 10.8% increase over the same period in 2019.
Up at the Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle, container traffic rebounded robustly in February from a year earlier. Import loads (104,652 TEUs) jumped 27.9% year-over-year but were still only 5.0% ahead of February 2019’s volume. Export loads continued to fall off as this February’s 46,267 loads trailing the previous February by 7.8% and February 2019 by 29.5%. Total box trade so far this year through the two Puget Sound ports (522,574 TEUs) was up 19.3% from the same months in 2024 but down 12.2% from 2019.
Across the border in British Columbia, the Port of Vancouver had a sluggish February. Inbound loads (126,468 TEUs) plunged 17.8% from a year earlier and were also down 2.3% from February 2019. Outbound loads (125,437 TEUs) dropped 13.8% year-over-year and fell 38.3% below the volume in February 2019. Added by higher volumes in January, total YTD container traffic at Canada’s largest seaport (581,664 TEUs) inched up 1,4% from the first two month of 2019.
South Carolina’s Port of Charleston discharged 112,487 inbound loaded TEUs in February, a year-over-year gain of 8.0% and a 44.8% increase over February 2019. Outbound loads (53,205 TEUs) were down 10.8% from a year earlier as well as off 14.3% from February six years ago. Total traffic YTD (225,374 TEUs) was up 26.5% from the first two months of 2019.
Further north in British Columbia, the Port of Prince Rupert reports 24,914 inbound loaded TEUs in February, a 17.9% drop from a year earlier and a 28.3% decline from February 2019. Outbound loads (8,196 TEUs) over the same periods were down 12.1% and 29.5%, respectively. Total container traffic in this year’s first two months (118,868 TEUs) was off by 26.6% from the same months in 2019.