Preliminary November 2024 TEUs

The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association’s West Coast Trade Report is a monthly publication that monitors container traffic through 24 North American seaports, nineteen in the United States, three in Canada, and two on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Unlike other reports, the TEU tallies cited here are the actual statistics published by the ports themselves, not estimates based on proprietary models or algorithms.

Because some ports are notoriously slow to release monthly trade data, the initial figures are incomplete. However, as the tardy numbers become available, the Facts & Figures tables on the PMSA website will be promptly updated.

What others are saying about November’s TEU Traffic

The National Retail Federation’s collaboration with the Global Port Tracker (GPT) has projected that November will see the arrival of 2.17 million TEUs, up 14.4% year-over-year at the major container ports GPT monitors. (Like other box counters, GPT seems to be having problems obtaining timely container numbers from Port Miami, one of the 13 U.S. maritime gateways it customarily has tracked.) Meanwhile, the Descartes Systems Group estimates that 2,368,758 TEUs will arrive at U.S. ports nationally in November, a 12.8% gain over the previous November, and up 24.6% from pre-pandemic November 2019. Importantly, November’s import volume dipped for the first time in four months below 2.4 million TEUs, a level at which Descartes observes had previously led to port congestion and delays during the period immediately following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What the ports themselves are saying about November

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.  

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.

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.