Preliminary October 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 latest month’s figures are typically incomplete. However, as the missing numbers become available, the Facts & Figures tables on the PMSA website will be promptly updated.
What others are saying about October. Whenever we hear media pundits claim “the numbers don’t lie”, we wonder which numbers they’re talking about. Consider the variety of figures on inbound loaded TEUs that various box-counting organizations report as having arrived at U.S. ports in October, well before any major U.S. port had revealed its own container trade numbers for the month. For example, S&P Market Intelligence tells us that U.S. ports handled 2.79 million laden inbound TEUs in October, while Descartes Systems Group counted a remarkably precise 2,494,635 inbound loads for that month. The National Retail Federation’s Global Port Tracker (NRF/GPT) projects that October saw 2.13 million inbound loads arrive at the 13 U.S. ports it monitors, although NRF/GPT concedes it has yet to see October figures from the not inconsequential Port of New York/New Jersey and from Port Miami.
What the ports themselves are saying about October.
In a surprising development, the Port of Los Angeles handled 24,823 fewer inbound loaded TEUs than did the neighboring Port of Long Beach. Nonetheless, inbound loads at LA (462,740) were up a vigorous 24.2% from a year earlier, while recording a 17.8% gain over October 2019. Laden outbound containers (122,716) were up just 1.2% year-over-year while remaining 12.6% below the volume recorded in October 2019. Total YTD container moves through the San Pedro Bay port (8,491,420) represented an 8.0% increase over the 7,861,966 TEUs the port has handled in the first ten months of 2019.
The Port of Long Beach recorded its busiest month ever for container traffic. Inbound loads (487,563) were up 34.2% from a year earlier and up 44.7% from the inbound loads handled in the pre-pandemic month of October 2019. Outbound loads (112,845), while up 25.3% from the year before, still remained 14.3% shy of October 2019’s volume. Total container moves YTD through the San Pedro Bay port (7,904,564) were up 20.2% from last year and 24.2% ahead of the TEUs handled through the first ten months of 2019.
Up the coast at the Port of Oakland, inbound loads (81,498) in the tenth month were up 11.2% year-over-year as well as 3.7% ahead of October 2019. Outbound loads (66,649) slipped 3.4% from a year earlier and were down 23.7% from October 2019. Total container traffic at the San Francisco Bay area port YTD (1,898,554) were up 10.2% from a year earlier but down 10.0% from the first ten months of 2019.
Oregon’s struggling Port of Portland handled 81,244 total TEUs through the first ten months of the year, down 19.8% from 101,344 at this point last year.
Washington State’s Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle handled 107,395 inbound loads in October, a 6.9% gain from a year earlier but a 1.9% decline from October 2019. Outbound loads (47,547) were down 13.4% year-over-year and off by 40.1% from October 2019. Total container trade through the two ports YTD (2,745,775) was up 10.7% from a year earlier but down 14.7% from the same period in 2019.
Canada's largest seaport, the Port of Vancouver reported 150,373 inbound loaded TEUs in October, an 8.1% increase over a year earlier and 10.5% higher than the volume handled in October 2019. Outbound loads (63,488) were down 4.4% from the previous October and were 27.3% below the volume five years ago. Total YTD container traffic through the British Columbia gateway (2,968,228) was up 15.5% from last year but just 3.5% over the 2,869,050 TEUs handled during the first ten months of 2019.
Further north in British Columbia, Canada’s third busiest seaport, the Port of Prince Rupert posted higher year-over-year numbers but continued to operate well below its pre-pandemic volumes. Inbound loads (28,872), while up 19.5% over last year, were half of the 57,644 inbound loads the port had handled in October 2019. Similarly, outbound loads this October (10,269) were up 5.6% year-over-year but still down 26.2% from October 2019. Total container traffic YTD (649,107) was down 35.0% from 2019.
The Port of New York/New Jersey (PNYNJ) typically releases its container traffic figures several days after we publish our newsletter. As soon as PNYNY’s October numbers become available, the October 2024 container trade tables on PMSA’s website will be revised accordingly.
Elsewhere along the Atlantic Seaboard, the Port of Virginia handled 125,941 inbound loads in October, a 13.9% year-over-year drop and only a 1.4% gain over October 2019. Outbound loads (66,115) fell 28.6% from a year earlier and by 20.9% from October 2019. Total container traffic YTD (2,960,111) was up 19.1% from the same period in 2019.
At the Port of Charleston, the 103,558 inbound loads discharged this October were down 14.5% from a year earlier but up 8.7% from October 2019. Outbound loads (45,488) were likewise down both from a year earlier (-24.8%) and from October 2019 (-35.0%). Total YTD container traffic through the South Carolina port (2,087,682) was just 1.2% higher than in 2019.
Georgia’s Port of Savannah reported 240,768 inbound loads in September, a 8.9% bump over a year earlier and a 20.7% increase since September 2019. Outbound loads (99,361) were down 11.2% year-over-year and also down 22.4% from the same month five years ago. Total container traffic YTD (4,625,269) represented a 19.4% gain over the same period in 2019.
Over on the Gulf Coast, inbound loads at Port Houston in October were down 13.4% from a year ago to 152,879 TEUs. However, this October’s inbound loads were up 38.2% over October 2019. Outbound loads (99,013) were down 21.4% from a year earlier and down 9.5% from October 2019. YTD total container traffic at the Texas marine gateway (3,430,132) represented a 7.7% gain over the first ten months of 2019.